New Sabah Times
By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: The Tambadau Juniors will be put to a real test when they face off against Selangor in a President’s Cup Group A tie that kicks off at 4:15pm at the Likas Stadium today.
Head coach Justin Ganai said this is undoubtedly one tough home date for his side before insisting they are ready to give their opponents a run for their money.
“We will be using the match to gauge the true strength of our team because there is no better way to do it other than to take on the table-toppers, who have won all their opening five matches,” the veteran coach said when contacted yesterday.
“This (match) is also going to be a yardstick to see how far we have progressed since we started our preparations a few months back,” he added.
“We’ll see what is going to happen tomorrow (today), but I believe our players are ready to mount a strong challenge against Selangor.
“On paper, they seem to be unstoppable … they have a good scoring record with 11 goals from five matches and conceded two goals, but we are determined to put their fine run to a halt.
“As for us, our scoring is something that looks like a work still in progress. We merely managed to record three goals from five matches and conceded two. And it is something that really concerns us.
“We certainly need to improve on our finishing. We have been trying to sort it out in our daily training and hopefully what we have been practising (finishing) for the past few days will work its wonder tomorrow,” Justin said.
He also revealed that he will not have the services of his leading striker Mohd Shariman Mukarim. Justin said his lanky striker is still mourning the death of his brother who passed away recently.
“On behalf of the team, I would like to express our deepest condolences to him and his family … our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this difficult time,” said Justin.
According to Justin, he has an adequate replacement to fill in the vacuum left by Shariman, naming Faizulnizam Aziz to take over the former’s role.
“Faizulnizam will lead our attack together with Ariusdius Jais,” he said.
Apart from that, Justin said the rest of his first team that drew 0-0 with Kedah in their last fixture away to Kedah will be retained.
Tambadau Juniors will head into the tie sitting sixth in the 10-team standings on seven points from two wins, one draw and two defeats, while Selangor lead the pack with a maximum of 15 points from five games.
