Simunic makes rusty DPMM FC work hard

Jason Thomas
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

DPMM FC head coach Vjeran Simunic (pic) is facing a race against time to get his players fit.

Brunei's only professional club are eyeing a return to the Singapore League (S-League) next season and are awaiting a reply to an application they sent the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) two weeks ago.

But with the squad out of shape after not playing a competitive game since their 2-2 draw against Tampines Rovers FC on Sept 29, 2009, it is easy to understand why the Croatian's training sessions hardly involve any time on the ball.

He also has other worries on his mind.

His players can only make it to the club's base at the Jerudong Mini Stadium once a day, and some of them can't even make it to training at all because of other commitments.

"We are getting better day to day but at the moment we only train in the evening since the players are still working, at that too only around 5.30pm," he said last week.

"Maybe we will get approval from their employers to release them to train twice a day, morning and evening, once we get an answer from Singapore.

"Our problem is that we don't have our full squad with us now. The Royal Brunei Armed Forces' Sports Council (MS ABDB) have not released our players and we are still waiting for guys from the Under-23 national team.

"But we have five months (until the S-League starts in February) and we are doing the best we can.

"We are doing a lot of off-the-ball training to improve fitness (and) the players are all very happy to work. They have been neglected for so long and the most important thing is for them to get fit.

"I'm working differently for every player. Like Abu (striker Abu Bakar Mahari) for instance, he hasn't been training for one year so he has different drills to go through. Once they are fit then they can show their skill with the ball. When will that be? Perhaps in November or December ... The plan is to get all the players up to the same standard by that time.

"I'm not against the gym. I'll do it maybe once a week, but a footballer's natural environment is the field and you can see the atmosphere at training is great," he said, acknowledging he does most of his strength training at the Jerudong Mini Stadium.

Among the new faces in the team are several Under-21 players, two of whom are striker Shahrazen Hj Md Said's younger brothers Adi and Mohd Amalul Ariffin Shah.

Former Brunei Youth Team (Under-19) midfielder Azwan Ali Rahman and striker Abdul Al-Wardy Abdul Hamid are also among the younger players in the team, as is Mohd Arif Hj Zulkifli, who used to feature for Indera Sports Club.

It is the host of older players that might come as a surprise though, with ex-national striker Abg Norsillmy Abg Hj Taha who is in his early 30s heading the list. Md Julremi Hj Zaini, Md Hendra Azam Md Idris and Ampuan Nurul Azami Ampuan Husin are also those who have been training with the club, the players formerly at Wijaya FC, QAF FC and Majra FC respectively.

The club are allowed four imports in the S-League and Simunic admitted it won't be easy to replace the Croatian trio of Rene Komar (defender), Ivan Jerkovic and Drazen Govic (midfielders) and Algerian striker Abdel Hamid Berguiga.

"Like I said before, they must have the same kind of personality, ability and skill as our previous imports if not better," said Simunic.The Brunei Times

DPMM FC eye U-23 players

Dennis Lim
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Sunday, September 25, 2011

DPMM FC will be looking to the Sultanate's U-23 team for some much needed players after Vjeran Simunic revealed that there is currently insufficient number of players in the squad yesterday, following their friendly match against the Royal Brunei Armed Forces' Sports Council (MS ABDB) football club.

The match ended in a goalless draw after 58 minutes of play at the Jerudong Park Polo Club football grounds.

The DPMM FC coach also used the opportunity to voice the need for more practice opponents to keep things fresh and interesting for his squad.

"We play with this team (MS ABDB) every time; the motivation isn't there because we keep playing with the same opponent. We need opponents from maybe another country or something," said Simunic.

"But with that said the training is fine. The players still run for the ball and fight for the ball as they should," he added.

The veteran Croatian is currently preparing the team in hopes of participating in the Singapore League that will start late February next year.

Asked what he and the team has to improve on, the coach replied, "We're going to continue to bring the fitness level higher; we're going to focus on not letting the players slip in form but raise in this area.

"Having just a day off in a week, we will train six times a week. Also maybe on Wednesday, we'll look to play another game with the U-23 squad and maybe on Saturday with this (MS ABDB) again," he said.

Yesterday's game saw DPMM FC players struggling to make the friendly on time, having to rush straight from work and having to cope with prayer times, but Simunic was more focused on the duration of the match.

"We only played 58 minutes; it was not a football match. So next time we have to be more punctual as the prayer times would stop us from play," he said, adding that given the situation, the players weren't fully up to the standards he expected.

"Even in this situation, the players are very tired. We have not had any training with the ball so we missed some good chances," said the coach.

"They're still not comfortable with the ball, they would need to work hard to get comfortable."

DPMM FC struggled to maintain possession early on in yesterday's game.

MS ABDB, meanwhile, put on an impressive showing upon kickoff and was putting their opponent's defence to the test.

Brunei's only professional club, however, showed their substance by staying calm and keeping a clear head to slowly settle into the groove of their game.

They would mount a comeback to properly contest and trouble their opponents by the start of the second half.

DPMM FC's newfound dominance kept MS ABDB's keeper busy but no goals were to be scored on the night with DPMM FC's best chance coming in the form of their second goal attempt in the half, having their shot find the post despite having the keeper beaten.

The Brunei Times
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DPMM FC - Tryouts - Updates

Players coming for tryouts September,2011

1/Ryan Zogby(South Africa)-arrive 3rd October

2/Stephen Manu(Ghana)-arrive 28th September

3/Fabiano Moura(Brazil)-arrive tbc

4/Djordjije Cetkovic(Montenegro)-arrive tbc

5/Youssef Sofiane(France)-arrive tbc


DPMM FC

DPMM FC to sign Brazilian, Irish players

Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Sunday, September 18, 2011

TIME is precious and DPMM FC are wasting none of it!

Brunei's only professional football club are looking to make a return to the Singapore League (S-League) and have "confirmed their first two imports" of the season.

The team, who became the first foreign team to win a trophy in Singapore by claiming the League Cup in their debut season in 2009, applied to re-join the S-League earlier in the week after Croatian coach Vjeran Simunic penned a new contract last Thursday.

According to the team's official website they are on the verge of signing defender Tales Ricarte dos Santos and midfielder George O'Callaghan.

Headlined "DPMM have confirmed the first 2 imports of the season", the brief post on the club's website said: "DPMM FC are on the verge of signing defender Tales Ricarte dos Santos and midfielder George O'Callaghan".

Tales, 27, last played for Tocantinopolis and the Brazilian regularly featured in the Serie D in Brazil.

On the other hand, the 32-year-old O'Callaghan played at Ipswich in the 2007/8 season and featured for Tranmere the following season before transferring to Yeovil Town, where the Irish attacking midfielder laced up for 12 matches.

Several other players are also on trial with the team as DPMM FC are looking to maximise the quota of four imports per team.

With the vast experience of Simunic, who was previously in charge of the side for 17 months until October 2009 when Fifa suspended the Sultanate, it shouldn't be a problem for him to select the best from the rest.

Simunic oversaw DPMM FC's most successful spell when they became the first foreign side to lift the Singapore League Cup in June 2009 after defeating Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out.

French side Etoile FC are the S-League's defending champions, with the competition starting on Feb 12 with a dozen teams playing in three rounds.

Currently in its 16th season, Singapore's top-flight is scheduled to end on Nov 28 though hopefully DPMM FC won't have to wait until then to find out if they can play.The Brunei Times

DPMM FC players can't wait to go out and play

IT'S hardly breaking news that DPMM FC players are raring for a return to the Singapore League (S-League).

Club manager Pg Waslimin PSJ Pg Hj Abd Momin told The Brunei Times on Thursday that Brunei's most successful football club have applied to rejoin the S-League after submitting their application to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) earlier in the week, a move, which if successful, will reunite DPMM FC with the league they took by storm in 2009.

Despite clubs from Japan (Albirex Niigata) and South Korea (Super Reds) also playing in the S-League, it was Brunei's only professional football club that became the first foreign team to win a trophy in Singapore when they claimed the League Cup in their debut season in 2009.

They had a shot at making it a double in the league largely thanks to the guidance of bench boss Vjeran Simunic, who has made a comeback after being forced out when Fifa suspended Brunei and in extension, DPMM FC from international football for 20 months.

Hj Muhd Subhi Abdilah Hj Bakir, a key cog in Simunic's midfield, is itching to lace up in Singapore again. "Of course it's a great idea for us to play there again like before," he told The Brunei Times yesterday.

"We've been resting for a long time so I hope we can get back (into the S-League) and I think there's a big probability we will. We have been out of competition for nearly two years so we all can't wait to get started. Now that Fifa lifted the suspension (in May) it will be good for Brunei footballers to get back to playing international football and improve our standard.

"All of us support the decision to bring Simunic back. We would support any coach the club bring in but Simunic has helped us to achieve something. The players are all in-tune with his training, strategy and formation ... Though training might be hard, it's for the good of the club and players," added Hj Muhd Subhi.

Another key component in Simunic's squad is Mohd Wardun Yussof, the goalkeeper who was the team's hero during the 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) FC with back-to-back saves against midfielder Masahiro Fukasawa and defender Razaleigh Khalik.

He has also been in fine form in the domestic league, helping Majra FC claim the DST Group Brunei League Cup in June.

The shot-stopper also featured for DPMM FC when they were in the Malaysian Super League (MSL) in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons, but maintains that neither the DST Group Brunei League nor the MSL can compare to the S-League.

"I'm happy to hear the news and hope it works. It is a very good league which is well organised and has really professional players and they are also more open," said Wardun.

"I also support the decision to bring back Simunic since he led the club to a trophy. It's a better idea to bring in new players and new faces instead of a new coach," he noted.

The team's deadliest striker, Shahrazen Hj Md Said, felt that a move back to the S-League with Simunic marked the club's natural progression after the Fifa suspension was lifted.

"It's a good idea. It's easy for us to communicate with Simunic and he knows our style of play ... We're like family," he said.

"We've been enjoying returning to training with him and we have really started preparing hard for the league," said Shahrazen, who finished the 2006/07 MSL season as joint top-scorer with 21 goals and also led DPMM FC in scoring during the 2008/09 S-League season with nine.

Another player who has been enjoying working with Simunic again is midfielder Hardi Bujang.

"For me it's a good idea to bring him back because if we get another coach we need to learn his style all over again," he said.

"He has really been concentrating on fitness during training and we're running a lot," he added.

French side Etoile FC are the S-League's defending champions, with the competition starting on Feb 12 with a dozen teams playing in three rounds

Currently in its 16th season, Singapore's top-flight is scheduled to end on Nov 28 though hopefully DPMM FC won't have to wait until then to find out if they can play.The Brunei Times

DPMM FC - Sign Brazilian and Irish players

DPMM FC signs Brazilian defender Tales Kanu and former Tranmere Rovers midfielder George O'Callaghan.

DPMM FC apply to rejoin S'pore League

Jason Thomas
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Friday, September 16, 2011

DPMM FC are one step closer to a Singapore League (S-League) return.

Brunei's only professional football club exceeded all expectations by becoming the first foreign team to win a trophy in Singapore when they claimed the League Cup in their debut season in 2009 (pic, left), and had a shot at making it a double in the league with the FA Cup also offering another chance at silverware.

But Fifa's suspension on the Sultanate meant the club had to stop their campaign with five games to go, and their players had to settle for domestic competition ever since.

Fifa reversed its decision in May, and immediately, questions were asked whether DPMM FC would rejoin the league.

More questions arose when Vjeran Simunic was revealed to have penned a new contact last Thursday, the Croatian coach returning to the side he led to the League Cup success.

It only took a week for some of those questions to start getting answers.

Quoting an anonymous source, Singaporean online news portal Today Online yesterday reported that DPMM FC have submitted their application to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), with club manager Pg Waslimin PSJ Pg Hj Abd Momin confirming the news.

"We have already applied ... I think it was two days ago," he told The Brunei Times yesterday.

"I'm not sure when we will get a reply. So far I know another club, Sembawang United, have also applied to join (the league). There's no answer yet, maybe because the league is still ongoing. Maybe they want to know how many teams will be playing ... (The current) 12 or 14.

"They have a lot to think about," he said, adding that DPMM FC have only applied to join the S-League.

A point of contention before the club first joined the league in February 2009 was whether they could play home games, and Pg Waslimin admitted the topic had cropped up once again.

"I am not sure what the format will be like and whether we will be allowed to play home games," he said.

"I am not sure if we will still join if we can't play home games but that is what we have proposed.

"I read that Gombak United's chairman said that playing away was good experience for them, so maybe it will happen again," added the club manager.

Today Online talked to Gombak chairman John Yap and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) FC coach Richard Bok for the story, both agreeing that DPMM FC had an impact on the league despite playing for less than one season.

"They gave clubs a chance to experience a real away game with the hostile crowd in Brunei," said Yap.

"They were a credit to themselves and ... gave an added dimension to the league," added the chairman.

Bok, who guided the Warriors to the S-League title in 2009, said that DPMM FC were a force to contend with.

"They were challenging for the title when they were forced to pull out, and they were a good side that made the league more exciting," said Bok.

Today Online also contacted FAS deputy director of marketing and competitions, who didn't rule out a return for Brunei's most famous club.

"There has been a lot of talk about the league expanding and also new teams joining the S-League," said Ridzal Saat.

"We will take into consideration every aspect on how we can improve the league as a whole.

"One such area is our S-League online survey ... as we seek to gather feedback from fans in preparation for the 2012 season. If there are changes, we will update the public swiftly," he promised.

According to the report, the Malaysian Under-23 side are also set to join the S-League next season.The Brunei Times