TITLEHOLDERS NO PROBLEM WITH POSTPONEMENT

MS ABDB manager Major Pg Farisan Pg Metassan (L) and Indera SC manager Rosdin Abdul
Aziz holding the DST Sumbangsih Cup during a pre-match press conference on Jan 21.
The DST Super League has been postponed to April. BT file
Indera SC’s Hamizan Aziz Sulaiman scores the second goal against MS ABDB during their
DST Sumbangsih Cup match at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas on Jan 24.
BT file
Indera’s Sahrin Momin (L) controlling the ball during a DST Super League game against
MS ABDB last year. BT file

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.

Popular posts from this blog

LLRC FT WIN 6-SIDED INVITATIONAL

Image
Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Hamid bin Hj Mohd Jaafar, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture,  Youth and Sports presenting the Champion’s Trophy and prize money to LLRC FT team manager and captain LLRC FT in a group photo with the Champion’s Trophy. – PHOTOS: KHAIRIL HASSAN BY JAKE TEN  LLRC FT edged out Indera SC 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time to win the 6-sided Invitational Football Tournament. A dominating performance from Indera SC lacked a cutting edge, with the inaugural DST Super League winners forced to recover from Mohd Helmie Noorazmi’s first half header through Reduan bin Hj Petara’s 65th minute strike. Their lack of conviction proved fatal in the ensuing penalty shoot-out as they missed two penalties as LLRC FT celebrated a hard-fought victory. The team from Kuala Belait took the lead in the 7th minute, when Mohd Helmie Noorazmi headed home from close range. They remained in control for the rest of the half, but a ...
Read more

BAYONG SENDS QAF FC TO SUMMIT

Jason Thomas BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Tuesday, July 14, 2009 VIBAN FRANCIS BAYONG broke Jerudong FC's hearts last night with a goal in injury-time to send QAF FC back to the top of the DSTGroup Brunei Premier League I (BPL I) with a 2-1 win. Though he netted both of the defending champions' goals at the Balapan Track & Field, Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas, the Cameroonian midfielder was quick to deflect any individual praise. A free-kick from Ak Md Kamarul Ariffin Pg Ramlee in the 92nd minute was met by Bayong, who also opened the scoring for QAF FC in the 27th minute when he tapped in a header from Md Aqmal Hakeem Abd Hamid. "I thank the team for playing well ... All the guys did a great job today (Monday)," said Bayong. "It is not only about Viban, we won because the team played well. Did you see that cross? If it wasn't for him (Ak Md Kamarul Ariffin) we would not have won," he added. With the Royal Brunei Armed Forces ...
Read more

INDERA, TABUAN MUDA REPLAY CONFIRMED

Image
Indera coach Hj Omar Hj Jamil in a 2010 file photo. Picture: BT file Two-time DST Super League champions Indera Sports Club (SC) have been successfully granted a replay against Tabuan Muda (the national Under-23 team). The match last month was called off after 61 minutes when Indera captain Shahrin Hj Momin was sent off for a second yellow card, leaving the team with just eight players. The referee stopped the game and told both teams the match could not continue if one side has only eight players in the team – which is against FIFA’s ‘Laws of the Game 2015/2016’. In the rule book, Law 3 states that “A match is played by two teams, each consisting of not more than eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. A match may not start if either team consists of fewer than seven players.” National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) have confirmed in a press yesterday that the match will now be played tomorrow at the Balapan Track and Field of the Hass...
Read more