Felda need goals to survive

United coach Nidzam Jamil has admitted that they will need to sign a foreign striker in order to survive in the Super League.

The club were all set to register Brazil-born Thiago Quirino under the Asian quota but had to forgo their plans after the forward failed to obtain a Timor Leste passport.

Nidzam said his side will scout for a foreign striker when the midseason transfer window opens on May 2 as he admitted that they are currently too dependent on captain Hadin Azman for goals.

On Friday, 32-year-old Japanese forward Kei Ikeda led the attack in Hadin’s absence in the 2-1 defeat to Terengganu. Hadin is down with a knee injury. Ikeda netted in the fourth minute of stoppage time but it was not enough to stop Terengganu from taking all three points.

“Hadin will not be available for at least a week but I hope he recovers soon as he is important to the team.

“Ikeda did well but he is actually a No 10. Quirino was supposed to be our striker but we could not register him.

“I don’t know what’s going on there, but we will surely need to replace him in order to fill up the void in attack.

“Frankly, we need a foreign striker to solve our issues in attack. Currently, we have no issues in creating opportunities,” said Nidzam yesterday.

He also admitted there is a big gap between Felda United and the other Super League teams.

“Terengganu are a big team who rarely make mistakes.

“We need to fix our weaknesses in order to remain in the top-tier competition (next season),” he added.

Felda are currently 11th in the league with seven points, three more than bottom-placed Kuala Lumpur.