INDERA POISED FOR MORE GLORY
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| An Indera Sports Club player (L) eyes the ball during Friday's Six Corner Football Championship game against the national Under-23 team. Indera face LLRC FT in tonight's final of the six-team tournament.Picture: BT/Yusri Adanan |
INDERA Sports Club (SC) look poised to win their second major silverware of the year when they face Liang Lumut Recreational Club Football Team (LLRC FT) in the Six Corner Football Championship tonight.
The tournament is the first of its kind this year and the main purpose of it is to provide the national Under-23 and Under-19 teams with match experience ahead of regional meets, but both teams failed to make it to the final round of the tournament while Indera and LLRC progressed to tonight's final at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas as winners of their three-team groups.
The reigning national champions, Indera reached tonight's final after winning both their games in the six-team tournament, defeating Royal Brunei Armed Forces Sports Council (MS ABDB) 1-0 in their first game on Monday before edging the national Under-23 side 3-2 on Friday.
LLRC, meanwhile, defeated Royal Brunei Police Forces Sports Council (MSPDB) 4-0 in their first game, before thrashing the national Under-19 team 5-1.
Indera look to be favourites in tonight's tie after pipping MS ABDB to the DST Super League title by a 1-0 win on March 10 to be crowned the best team in local football.
Both teams were deadlocked on 22 points, but Indera's superior goal difference was enough to lift them above the army men on the very final day of the season.
But judging from LLRC's recent performance in the Six Corner Football Championship, Indera's manager Rosdin Hj Abdul Aziz is expecting a very tough game against the Belait-based team.
"We will see a fighting game tomorrow night (tonight).... Both teams believe in attacking," said Rosdin in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
"If we look at LLRC's performance over the last two games in the tournament, they've scored nine goals," he noted.
Though the manager promised his players would give it their all, he was ruing the loss of several key players.
"We are without two players because of the two red cards on Friday, and a few players are still nursing injuries so I hope they will fit tomorrow," said Rosdin.
"As we all know, several of our players such as midfielder Mohd Nurikhwan Othman and defender MohdAfi Aminuddin are playing with Under-23 (SEA Games) team.
"Our striker Mohd Nazirul Nazreen Abdullah is out injured and we are now only relying on our small squad to fill in the positions," he added. LLRC's coach Hj Affendi Hj Julaihi could not be contacted for this story.
Though the tournament was meant to serve as preparation for the two national sides ahead of future meets, they will be less than pleased with the fact they failed to reach the final.
The national Under-23s started with a 1-0 win over MS ABDB before losing 3-2 to Indera. The Under-19sfell 2-1 to MS PDB before going down 5-1 to LLRC FT.
The Under-23 side is currently preparing for December's SEA Games in Myanmar and were recently edged 1-0 by the Indonesian national Under-23.
The Under-19s will be competing at the Asean Football Federation Under-19 Youth Championships next month and October's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 tournament.
