Postponement gives more time to prepare
Published on: Friday, November 03, 2023
By: GL Oh
Ong also said the remaining four Super League matches are very important to Sabah FC who are currently in fifth place.
Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Ong Kim Swee will utilise the extra days to prepare Sabah FC’s AFC Cup tie against Haiphong FC on November 9 following another postponement of their Super League match with Kelantan in Kota Bharu.
They were supposed to play the bottom club team today (Friday), but the match that was first postponed on September 29 following heavy downpour that deemed the pitch unplayable by match officials was called off again on Wednesday with no official reasons given.
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“The postponement of the Kelantan match has given us more time to prepare for the return-leg tie with Haiphong FC in the AFC Cup.
“We need to make full use of this extra space to ensure that we are able to rectify our weaknesses to overcome them,” he said on Wednesday.
Sabah FC had earlier suffered their first defeat in the competition with a 2-3 away loss to the Vietnamese side in the first leg of the Group H tie on October 25.
Ong also said the remaining four Super League matches are very important to Sabah FC who are currently in fifth place.
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“We still have the opportunity to finish the season in top three position if anything happens to teams currently in third and fourth place in their coming matches.
“Therefore, we cannot take lightly our match against Kelantan followed by Terengganu, Perak and our final match against Kedah at home.
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“At the same time, we must regain our momentum in the AFC Cup competition in order for us to progress to the next round,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ong also touched on the issue of financial problems affecting the salary payments of players and officials in the league acknowledged by MFL chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Stuart Ramalingam recently.
He believed under the current scenario with the high cost, financial assistance from the State Government and sponsorship by large companies are needed to help not only clubs but also junior teams to carry out their development programme which is very important.
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