Starting from grassroots
Brunei’s footballing structure is slowly being rebuilt after being decimated by COVID
“There has been no league in over two years due to COVID-19, so the players have only been training and playing a cup competition” Brunei’s technical director Paul Munster
Afirst AFF Cup appearance in 26 years proved painful for Brunei, but the tiny nation from the island of Borneo is looking to use the tournament to kick-start development.
The ASEAN Football Federation’s tournament is for12 countries in South East Asia. Brunei appeared in the first event in1996 but did not return until the latest AFF Cup.
After beating Timor Leste 6-3 on aggregate in a qualifier, Brunei faced three opening games in six days in Group A against regional heavyweights – a tough proposition for a side lacking regular match experience. Three late goals consigned them to a 5-0 defeat in their opener against Thailand, and another five were shipped against the Philippines with Razimie Ramlli getting a consolation, before a sobering 7-0 thrashing from Indonesia.
Technical director Paul Munster said: “In the first half, we knew we would be able to compete with performance and physicality against the superior teams; the second half we knew the level would drop and it is totally understandable.
“There has been no league in over two years due to COVID-19, so the players have only been training and playing a cup competition which is clearly not enough to reach AFF level.”
Brunei’s Spanish coach Mario Rivera, who coached the island’s Under-21 team in 2017-18, gave game time to all the squad’s players to increase experience and the final game showed some improvement.
Nur Ikhwan Othman put Brunei ahead against Cambodia and the scores were level at half-time. The level dropped again in the second half and Cambodia won 5-1 but Munster is drawing positives from the experience. “You could see with each game there was improvements and all players got game time,” says Munster. “Now the players understand what it takes to compete at this level.”
Taking part is a big step forward for Brunei, whose peripatetic involvement with the AFF Cup was partly due to FIFA suspensions a few years ago.
Nur Ikhwan, Razimie and most of the squad had played for Brunei side DPMM, which competed in the Singapore league until 2019, when the club won the title. The onset of COVID-19 ended that involvement and led to the suspension of the Brunei league. The lack of playing opportunities were evident in the AFF Cup and drove home the need to restart the league to kick-start development.
Munster adds: “The league [needs] to start, that’s most important. Then the foreign coaches can come in to improve the players in their tactical understanding, technical ability and physical condition. This is also important
for the local coaches to learn from the head coach.”
The local league was focused on Muara, but is being expanded to16 teams. Buses are being organised to bring in players from the other three districts in Tutong, Belait and Temburong. On resumption, two U21 players must start every local league game and can only be replaced by U21 players.
Munster has also been visiting schools to establish a pathway. “We are starting from grassroots,” concludes Munster. “We have many talented players that need to play senior football, so we need a pathway for our young players.”
With Brunei also targeting a consecutive AFF appearance, those players will also get the chance to play at the highest senior level.