Players for President Cup, Youth Cup must fight for places – Safa
KOTA KINABALU: Hopeful candidates must continue to fight for their places in order to don the President Cup (under-21) and Youth Cup (under-19) colours next year.
That is why the ultimate lists for the two State junior squads have yet to be finalised despite undergoing two phases of selection trials which ended at the Likas Stadium here yesterday.
The Sabah Football Association (Safa) Under-21 and Under-19 Selection Committee chairman, Benedict Asmat, revealed only twothird out of the over 100 candidates from the second phase will be selected.
"We will propose 35 players to be selected for each team to undergo the centralised training.
"Those who make the cut must continue to work hard and to fight for their places in the final list for the President Cup and Youth Squad," said Benedict when met on the final day of the Phase Two trials.
The selected players are expected to be named in the next couple of days, after a committee meeting where they will study reports while looking into suggestions from the selection panel headed by coach Justin Ganai.
Benedict went on to say that the final list for both squads will only be announced probably in early January 2018, just before the closing date for registration of players for the 2018 season.
Meanwhile, Benedict said the State FA will not shut the doors on any talented young players who wish to play for the two junior squads.
"As long as the registration is still open, we welcome any players with quality into the team.
"We are not going to stop when it comes to finding these new talents. In fact, the process (of looking for talented players) will continue even if registration has closed," he added.
He also said that they will also be on the lookout for junior talents at the upcoming Sabah Games (SAGA) in Sandakan.
"If we find these potential players in SAGA, we will give them the chance to join centralised training.
"We are not only looking at building the President Cup and Youth Cup teams for the 2018 but to create a pool of talented footballers for the state," he said.
Justin who heads the selection panel is also assisted by Johnny Dominicus, Billyton Vun Ket Ming, Awang Sabtu Jamil and Matasan Ahmad as well as goalkeeper coaches Jasrih Jabidin and Mohd Noor @ Francis.