Friday, February 6, 2015
INDERA Sports Club (SC) manager Rosdin Hj Abdul Aziz agrees with the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam’s (NFABD) decision to postpone the DST Super League.
Slated to begin this month, NFABD announced on Wednesday that the DST Super League has now been postponed to early April, the decision to do so thought to be the involvement of some of the DST Super League players in international competitions.
Defending champions Indera SC have more than half of their first team players in the national squad, and they are currently preparing for next month’s first round of the Preliminary Joint Qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Preliminary Competition and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers.
Another tournament the country’s players will be involved in the coming months is the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-23 Championship 2016 Qualifiers in Indonesia.
The Sultanate has been drawn in Group H and will be up against hosts Indonesia, South Korea and Timor Leste at the March 23-31 qualifiers.
“We totally support NFABD’s decision to postpone the league to April,” said Rosdin in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
“The decision is totally fair for the clubs who have a number of players representing the national team… In our case, more than half of our first team players are in the national squad and we might struggle to maintain our form against the other teams in the league without these players.
“Moreover, we need the players to fulfill their duty as national player and concentrate on it. We are on the same boat as NFABD on this.
“At the same time, we will also take this chance to improve our fitness before the league starts in April, and we are also planning to have a number of friendlies to maintain our form,” added the manager.
Meanwhile, the Royal Brunei Armed Forces Sports Council (MS ABDB) manager Major Pg Farisan Pg Metassan said that the postponement had affected the team’s spirit.
“For us (MS ABDB) we have no problem with the decision, but of course, it affects a bit of our drive as we were looking forward to play this month,” said Major Pg Farisan.
“But again, for us, it is not really a big deal and we just have to go with it… For now, we will concentrate on preparing our team,” he added.
Indera SC clinched the DST Sumbangsih Cup on Jan24 after a 2-0 victory over MS ABDB at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas in the traditional curtain-raiser to the local football season.
Najip FC, Wijaya FC, Jerudong FC, the Royal Brunei Police Force Sports Council (MS PDB), Kilanas FC, Lun Bawang, IKLS and Tebuan Muda (the national Under-23 football team) are the other teams that will be competing in the national elite league.
Indera finished the nine-team Super League with 43 points ahead of MS ABDB with 37 points last season.
The former won 14 games, lost one and drew one. They scored a total of 51 goals and only conceded 14 throughout the campaign.
According to a previous report in The Brunei Times, the second-tier DST Premier League is scheduled to begin next Saturday.
The tournament will see an increase in participation with a total of 11 competing for top honours, up from eight in the previous year.
BSRC (Brunei Shell Recreation Club) FT, Perkasa FC, Setia Perdana, Kota Ranger, Rimba Star and Tunas FC are the returning teams.
Menglait FC, Kasuka FC, Pancur Murai FC, Besa FC and Tebuan Under-18 are the newcomers for the DST Premier League.
The Brunei Times
Slated to begin this month, NFABD announced on Wednesday that the DST Super League has now been postponed to early April, the decision to do so thought to be the involvement of some of the DST Super League players in international competitions.
Defending champions Indera SC have more than half of their first team players in the national squad, and they are currently preparing for next month’s first round of the Preliminary Joint Qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Preliminary Competition and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers.
Another tournament the country’s players will be involved in the coming months is the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-23 Championship 2016 Qualifiers in Indonesia.
The Sultanate has been drawn in Group H and will be up against hosts Indonesia, South Korea and Timor Leste at the March 23-31 qualifiers.
“We totally support NFABD’s decision to postpone the league to April,” said Rosdin in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
“The decision is totally fair for the clubs who have a number of players representing the national team… In our case, more than half of our first team players are in the national squad and we might struggle to maintain our form against the other teams in the league without these players.
“Moreover, we need the players to fulfill their duty as national player and concentrate on it. We are on the same boat as NFABD on this.
“At the same time, we will also take this chance to improve our fitness before the league starts in April, and we are also planning to have a number of friendlies to maintain our form,” added the manager.
Meanwhile, the Royal Brunei Armed Forces Sports Council (MS ABDB) manager Major Pg Farisan Pg Metassan said that the postponement had affected the team’s spirit.
“For us (MS ABDB) we have no problem with the decision, but of course, it affects a bit of our drive as we were looking forward to play this month,” said Major Pg Farisan.
“But again, for us, it is not really a big deal and we just have to go with it… For now, we will concentrate on preparing our team,” he added.
Indera SC clinched the DST Sumbangsih Cup on Jan24 after a 2-0 victory over MS ABDB at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas in the traditional curtain-raiser to the local football season.
Najip FC, Wijaya FC, Jerudong FC, the Royal Brunei Police Force Sports Council (MS PDB), Kilanas FC, Lun Bawang, IKLS and Tebuan Muda (the national Under-23 football team) are the other teams that will be competing in the national elite league.
Indera finished the nine-team Super League with 43 points ahead of MS ABDB with 37 points last season.
The former won 14 games, lost one and drew one. They scored a total of 51 goals and only conceded 14 throughout the campaign.
According to a previous report in The Brunei Times, the second-tier DST Premier League is scheduled to begin next Saturday.
The tournament will see an increase in participation with a total of 11 competing for top honours, up from eight in the previous year.
BSRC (Brunei Shell Recreation Club) FT, Perkasa FC, Setia Perdana, Kota Ranger, Rimba Star and Tunas FC are the returning teams.
Menglait FC, Kasuka FC, Pancur Murai FC, Besa FC and Tebuan Under-18 are the newcomers for the DST Premier League.
The Brunei Times
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