TAMPARULI: Tamparuli Under-18 football team are ready to face any teams in the Sabah Football Association (Safa) Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin Cup tournament expected early April this year.
Its manager, Affandi Johari said that out of 65 participants who took part in the selections session for the past couple of weeks, only 25 players were selected to join the team for the tournament.
He said that Billyton Vun Kiet Ming, who played for Sabah senior team between 2002 to 2008 and ex-chief trainer of the State Under-19 squad, will coach the Tamparuli Under-18 team.
Seller M. Ampuling, who is the team goalkeeper coach will also act as assistant manager for the Tamparuli U-18 team.
Meanwhile, Affandi said the direction of the team, after the competition, is to cultivate the interest of football among the younger generation in Tamparuli in hope they could produce capable players to play at a higher level in the future.
“For the next program, we have planned for that direction but we are also aware that it requires high commitment and high cost. This is the reality of every sports development at district level, let alone at state level,” he said.
Affandi also believed that many of the selected players have potential and capability and need the proper guidance to reach a higher level.
“This was proven through several series of friendly matches that we held with some well known teams in Tamparuli.
Meanwhile, Seller said the team will gather in Penampang on April 2, to allow players to have a feel of the tournament field.
The tournament will begin on April 3 to 4 where Tamparuli is in the East Coast Zone group with Penampang, Kiulu and Tuaran.
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