Crucial for Rhinos to maintain self-belief

13 Jul 2024 • 10:52 AM MYT
Daily Express
Daily Express

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By: James Wong

SABAH FC will be taking on the mighty Johor Darul Ta’zim FC in the Super League match tonight at the Likas stadium.

It is certainly a bad time to play against a team who seemed to be unbeaten in the local scene for the longest time.

It makes the task even harder without the goalscoring prowess of Ramon Machado who left the team on mutual understanding last week.

I also came to understand that Saddil Ramdani and Darren Lok who are also proven goalscorers may not be in the team line-up as well.

SPONSORED CONTENT Shell awards Sabah LiveWIRE winners Kota Kinabalu: Shell has awarded five enterprises as the state winners of Shell LiveWIRE Malaysia 2024, following the Sabah state finals held at Plaza Shell in Kota Kinabalu. . Read more This is certainly bad news. The odds may be up against us, but let’s not be overawed by our opponents’ presence tonight.

We must have the belief that nothing is a foregone conclusion until the final whistle is blown especially in football.

JDT FC may be a tough team to beat or even getting a draw, but we must bank on the home ground advantage and at the same time put behind the two defeats in the FA Cup by Terengganu FC last week to try to get the right result.

To be able to achieve the near impossible, the players need to be fully focused and play hard. No one will doubt it will be a very tough match but let’s give them a fight and show them we are capable of beating the odds.

I am not sure who the players Datuk Ong Kim Swee will line up for the match tonight, but whoever goes down to the pitch must be ready to give his best.

We have to keep JDT at bay right from the start.

The defence needs to be absolutely tight with lots of help coming from the midfield.

I don’t expect we will have many scoring chances given the strength of our opponents in this match, so the players must be very clinical in front of goal with any opportunities if we are to get it right tonight.

I also know that many fans are not happy at this moment after our terrible loss to Terengganu FC and the departure of Ramon.

However, we need to move on as I had said earlier, it is only the fourth match of the season and there are lots more games to go.

The fans must continue to support the team especially at this moment in time to lift the players’ morale.

Let’s find that winning momentum again tonight. All the best to the team and I am hoping for a nice surprise.

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