Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC must avoid conceding early goals in the return leg of the FA Cup quarterfinal tie against Terengganu FC at the Likas Stadium tomorrow (Saturday) night.
Head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said it will make the task more difficult if they fail to achieve that and they must try to score early themselves to stand any chance of overcoming the four-goal deficit.
“If we are to concede early, the players would have to work twice as hard to ensure that we can make a strong come back.
“On the other hand, if we are to score early then this will certainly boost the players’ fighting spirit to mount a strong challenge to overcome the deficit.
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 “You can say that this is a very challenging path, but it is not impossible. We know all the players want to redeem themselves after what happened in Terengganu.
“I am sure all the players have the desire to play better here in Likas and will keep trying to ensure that we can achieve the final result in favour of Sabah FC,” he said on Thursday.
He called on the players to stick to the objective of getting as many goals as they could and must remain focused until the end of the match.
He also said the starting line-up has yet to be decided as there are some injury issues to the squad.
“At the moment, several players including Cifu (Miguel Ángel Garrido Cifuentes) and Gabriel (Peres) have still not fully recovered from their injuries.
“However, we still have two more days to decide who will be fielded. I believe those who start the match will know exactly what they need to do.
“They must show high commitment and fighting spirit, especially playing in front of the spectators to make sure that we can play our best to get a positive result.”
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