Melaka ready for earlier kick-off, says Zainal

Super League side Melaka have no problem hitting the ground running if the M-League resumes earlier than the projected Sept 1 deadline.

The improving Covid-19 situation in the country has given the Malaysian Football League (MFL) a hope of restarting the league earlier, probably in August and Melaka coach Zainal Abidin Hassan is optimistic he will be able to get his players up to 100% by then.

The team resumed training on June 15 after the government’s green light to resume non-physical contact training.

Zainal added that the positive development may see the M-League and the Malaysia Cup ending in November.

“It depends on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the MFL to decide on the M-League schedule and since we are now allowed to train, I believe we have time to prepare the team to restart our campaign,” said the former international.

“If the M-League starts earlier in August, it will be better for teams as the league fixtures do not need to be so congested.”

“No matter what happens, as a coach, I need to be prepared for any eventuality ... when the league resumes, all players must be ready and this time everyone in the squad will get a chance to play because we will be playing matches in a short period.”

The Mousedeer are training at the Hang Jebat Stadium and Zainal admitted he had a bit of difficulty handling the training in three separate groups of 10 players each. He hopes to be able to train all the players in a group soon.

Melaka really need the points as they were docked three points by FAM in March after their failure to settle their players’ salary arrears before the stipulated deadline. The docking saw them sliding from third to 11th in the 12-team standings.