Rhinos have chance to qualify for semifinals
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Football Association (Safa) president Alijus Sipil believes the Rhinos have a bright chance of making it to the Malaysia Cup semifinals.
Sabah trailed 1-2 from the quarterfinals first leg in Kota Bahru but Alijus said the homeground advantage plus the away goal should provide Sabah a great platform to overturn the deficit.
“Sabah are still in a good position to qualify,” a confident Alijus texted yesterday.
“Not only Sabah are at home with an expected huge crowd supporting them but the slim agregate lead (Kelantan have) should not be too heavy a problem for Sabah to overturn.
“A one-goal victory should be enough to see Sabah through but at the same time, we must stop Kelantan from scoring,” he added of the second leg clash which would be played at the Likas Stadium on September 29.
In the first leg at the Sultan Mohamed IV Stadium, Aktyiar Duishobekov and Nik Alif Syahiran Nik Mat scored for Kelantan.
Sabah, who played the entire second half with 10 men following Randy Baruh’s harsh dismissal, briefly levelled the tie through Hamran Peter’s close range strike.
“We will be fully ready for Kelantan,” said Alijus.
Meanwhile, Alijus expected a huge turnout from the fans to support the Rhinos coached ny Jelius Ating in the crucial match.
As such, he advised the fans to buy their match tickets earlier where it can be purchased at the ticketing counters at the Likas Stadium starting at 10am on September 28.
“I advise the fans to come early too on match day (September 29) to avoid being stuck in a traffic jam as I believe there will be a big numbers of vehicles at the time headed for the stadium,” he said.
Towards this end, Alijus also called on to the Rhinos’ fans not to engage in activities that violate the rules and regulations that could see Safa face action and fine by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).