Rhinos to spare no effort against Kelantan
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah have vowed to go all out for the win as they look to claim an early advantage over Kelantan in the Malaysia Cup quarterfinal clash.
The first leg of the last eight tie will be played at the Sultan Muhammed IV Stadium tonight.
The Rhinos are determined to return home with “something positive” from Kota Bharu as a cushion when the teams face off in the second leg here on September 29.
Head coach Jelius Ating admitted the encounter against Kelantan would be tricky, but said he had full confidence in his players to deliver the desired result.
“We will go there (Kota Bharu) looking for a positive outcome... to be exact, we are going for a win.
“This is because we don’t want to be in a difficult situation when we meet against them in the return leg playing in front of the home crowd.
“We have gone this far in the tournament and yes, we will give our utmost best,” said Jelius yesterday.
Having said that, the former Rhinos captain explained he did not mean to undermine the quality of Kelantan, who were mostly represented by young players.
He said the opponents have proven themselves by getting into the quarter-finals and need to be taken seriously.
“We have made a video analysis of Kelantan and what we found out is that Kelantan is a hard-working team.
“Kelantan don’t have a certain individual player that can cause us problems but as a team, they can hurt us.
“We have to be extra alert when up against them...they have very hard-working players,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jelius said the team’s preparation has been smooth despite the short space of time to conduct full training.
He said the postponement of their last Group C match against Pahang to Monday (September 17) allowed them to undergo only two full training sessions in preparation against Kelantan.
“However, we have fully utilise the two days available to get our game plan right... I’m happy with how the players responded in training,” he said.
Jelius went on to say that he will have all his key players for the game, including striker Hector Ramos who has returned from international duty with the Puerto Rican national team.
“Hector has returned and so has Hamran (Peter), who represented Sabah in the Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Perak.
“All the players are in good condition and our hope is that there will be no injuries at the last minute,” he said.
The head coach is all set to restore his strongest side for the game after resting seven regulars in their last group fixtures here, which they lost 0-4 to Pahang.
Rozaimi Rohim is set to reclaim his place in between the post and protected by the four-man defence of Zambian Francis Kasonde, captain Rawilson Batuil, Randy Baruh and Alto Linus.
In midfield, budding national player Mohd Azzizan Nordin will lead in the middle of the park with Sabri Sahar, while Hamran and Maxsius Musa support from either flanks.
Ramos will lead the attack with Rodoljub Paunovic roaming just behind him.
For the record, the Malaysia Cup remained elusive for Sabah with their best results coming in 1996, 2003 and 2004 as the runners-up.