| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam Under-12 national team left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday to take part in the SuperMokh Cup, a tournament initiated by the Malaysian National Football Development Program.
The SuperMokh Cup, which enters its third year, serves as a tournament platform for the Under 12s and Under 13s and features more than 30 international club teams from all around the world.
Brunei Darussalam have been invited by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to take part in the tournament, which will run until December 18, for the first time.
The Brunei team has been busy preparing for the tournament since the end of September after receiving the invitation from FAM whereby they conducted training six times per week.
As the competition- a tribute to the late Mokhtar Dahari, Selangor and Malaysia’s striker in the 1970s- got closer, the national juniors held training on a daily basis.
Team manager Awang Morni bin Zakaria hoped that the national team could deliver a fine performance and provide a good challenge and fierce competition to the other experienced teams.
“We hope that we could succeed in this competition,” continued the team manager.
The national juniors have been drawn in Group ‘B’ alongside Malaysia Panthers, Gimpo JIJ FC from South Korea and Saint Prima from Indonesia.
The Brunei Darussalam under-12 national team will be taking part in the third edition of the SuperMokh Cup. – FADHIL YUNUS
Renowned teams such as Under-13 defending champions Manchester City from England, Rayo Vallecano from Spain, GNK Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia, Corinthians from Brazil, Paris St Germain from France are set to lock horns with giants from the J League and K League such as Gamba Osaka, Kashiwa Reysol and Suwon Samsung.
Morni felt that the South Korean team will pose the greatest challenge while not dismissing the tough test from the Malaysia side.
“Malaysia may also make early preparations but nevertheless as team manager we will be giving motivation to the players not to surrender and to fight tirelessly until the final whistle,” he said in an interview prior to departure at the Brunei International Airport yesterday.
“This provides an opportunity for them to highlight their capabilities and also gain experience which will benefit them in the future.”
Asked if there are key players which could provide a stiff challenge to the opposition, Morni revealed that he could count on all of the players to give them hopes whereby they have shown full dedication in training.
The team manager hinted that one or two players could be absorbed at a higher level adding that the team will be retained with a view of training for future tournaments.
The entire squad will be making their first appearances for the under-12 national team in an overseas tournament.
A total of 16 players has been finalised after 20 players were initially selected as part of the provisional squad.
Present to bid the Brunei Darussalam delegation farewell were Awang Haji Madli bin Haji Md Yusof, Acting Vice President of NFABD and Awang Rosdin bin Abdul Aziz, Acting General Secretary of NFABD.
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