KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Under-19 coach Billyton Vun Ket Ming has finalised his 30-member squad for the impending Youth Cup season after one week of training and two friendly matches. His team selections who had earlier lost 1-3 to the President Cup selection at Likas synthetic pitch on Friday, won their second friendly 2-1 against Kepayan selection comprising of Prisons Department and KDM Kepayan players at the Prisons Department football field on Monday.
“The match result was not important to me. My task was to look for the right players to assemble a team for the new season and the two friendly matches has given me the chance to see how each player performed in a competitive situation. “It was not an easy task to select the players I wanted especially after the first match against the President Cup selection.
“My initial list of players went up in smoke after the game as all 40 of them displayed tremendous fighting spirit and were way better than they had shown during training sessions even though they lost the match. “They did what I wanted them to do by showing their special ability, commitment and hard work on the pitch.
As a result, I had to arrange for the second friendly so that I could have a better judgement on them. I have finally come to a decision after the game yesterday on the players that I would like to register for the new season, however, I could only name the players after they are endorsed by the management,” he said on Tuesday.
Despite being able to identify the 30 names, the former President Cup assistant coach was slightly disappointed with the depth of right-back position in the team. “I am a bit worried about the right back position at the moment. There was no natural right-back that impressed me during the trial so I may try to convert two centre-backs to play in that position this coming weeks.”
The Youth Cup season will kick off on February 20, and Sabah are drawn in Group B together with Terengganu IV, Kedah, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, JDT IV, Perak, Pahang, Sarawak and Penang.
Meanwhile, Sabah are expected to try out Brazilian Vinicius Calamari in their final friendly in the Philippines against Kaya FC at Philippines Football Federation (PFF) National Training Centre in Carmona, Cavite this afternoon (Thursday). The 30-year-old striker will be the third foreign player to be featured in the tour following the appearances of South Korean defenderPark Tae Suand Moldovan striker Petru Leuca who played in the 4-2 win over Stallion FC in the first match on Tuesday.
However, Petru’s chance of donning a Sabah jersey seems to have gone after he suffered an injury during the match. “Hopefully Vinicius will give a convincing performance and get the nod from head coach Jelius Ating,” said team manager Henry Saimpon on Wednesday. Jelius on the other hand, hopes the imports will be able to show their true colours in the match today. “We are facing a better opponent than the one on Tuesday, so I expect a tougher test and the local players will give a better performance and it will be a chance for the two imports to show their true potential as well,” he said. He added that against Stallion FC in the first match, the players failed to click in the early stages and the finishing was also poor.
“We could have added more when we were 4-0 up but it could be because it was our first competitive match. “All 18 players are expected to be given the chance to play again tomorrow. Results are not the main issue here, what I would like to see are the strength and weaknesses of the team so that I can improve before the start of the season,” he said.
