By UMESH RAJAN
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Under-19 team kick off their Youth Cup season today (Wednesday) feeling optimistic of their chances despite lacking any competitive pre-season preparations. The Tambadau juniors visit Johor Darul Ta’zim IV (JDT IV) at the Kulai Mini Stadium in Johor for their opening Group B match of the new season, kicking off at 4.45pm. Head coach, Billyton Vun Kit Ming said his team look forward to the match as JDT IV are considered to be one of Malaysia’s top development squads in producing quality young players.
“Any positive result is welcome from this match. We did our best to prepare a team capable of playing football but we were unable to test them competitively during the pre-season break. “We had a few good results from a number of friendly matches against district teams and also the Sabah Reserve League squad which gave the new faces some match experience,” he said when contacted, yesterday.
Billyton stated that currently only a handful of players were retained from last year’s Youth Cup quarter-finalists’ squad while the rest are new additions to this year’s team. “With a majority of the players being fresh faces and lacking competitive experience, we will focus more on the players’ development this season in order to produce top players for both senior and reserve league teams in the future,” he said. Mohd Azlizan Mohd Azlan will start in between the posts, while defended by the quartet of Mohd Faqrul Idris, Dannish Danial Omar Maya, Fyellonarllye McAxora Jappri and Seherry Aladin. Xsevier Xcico Felex will man the midfield alongside Radzee Eqmal Ramli, Johan Mansor, Ajay Jamain and Ahmad Irwanto Rusli in providing the ball to lone striker, Mohd Sahrizan Saidin.
