Miri U16 footballers lift coveted Labuan title
MIRI: Miri Football Association (FA) scored a thrilling 1- 0 victory over Victoria Institution Football Club ( VIFC) from Kuala Lumpur to win the 2018 Labuan Sports Council ( MSL)-Labuan Amateur Football Association ( LAFA) Cup Tournament at Labuan Sports Complex in the Federal Territory of Labuan on Monday.
A solitary goal scored by Nasrull Zikri Nadzar in the 19th minute was enough for the Mirians to emerge champion in the Under16 tournament held in conjunction with the Federal Territory-level National Month and the Malaysia Day celebration.
Mi ri goalkeeper Vincent Sigar Yahaya was named Best Goalkeeper.
Head coach Fadillah Ibrahim savoured the hard- earned victory by highlighting the high standard of their opponents.
“It was an intense game. There were many experienced teams who have played in the Ministry of Education league and involved state sports schools, regional training centre programmes for high school level football.
“Almost all the other teams are better off in terms of playing experience as compared to ours,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He also congratulated his players who made their debut in the tournament.
A day earlier, Yusuf Panji Saputra contributed an al limportant only goal in the final minutes of the semi-final match against Beaufort FC Academy for Miri to advance to the final.
In the group stage, Miri FA topped Group A with two wins over SMKP-Labuan FC Academy (1- 0) and Parma FC Brunei D. S. (6- 0) with a 1-1 draw against SSDPLD Labuan 2.
A total of nine teams from Labuan, Sabah , Sa rawak , Peninsular Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam participated in the tournament which started on Sept 7.
The other teams were PLD Labuan 1, Labuan Utd and TABS Sabah. SSN- PLD Labuan 2 beat Beaufort FC Academy 2-1 in the playoff for third spot.
Almost all the other teams are better off in terms of playing experience as compared to ours. Fadillah Ibrahim, head coach