Sarawak head coach to field best 11 in final friendly against SPA Putrajaya today
KUCHING: Sarawak will field their best eleven in what is their last pre-season friendly match against SPA Putrajaya FC today.
It also appears that the match will not be like any other friendly match as the Crocs are seeking to produce an impressive and convincing result before the season kicks off.
Speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday, Crocs’ head coach Robert Alberts revealed that he has reminded his players to improve their performances and does not want to see a repeat of the team’s performances against Sabah last week.
Sarawak have been unimpressive during their last two matches against arch-rivals Sabah and Alberts wants the players to go out and make amends tonight.
During the first friendly match against Sabah in Kuching last Dec 23, Sarawak had to come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw.
It was however anybody’s guess if the Crocs could win the match as the match had to be stopped due to torrential rain.
They played another friendly match against Sabah in Kota Kinabalu on Jan 4 and lost 0-1.
Commenting on the loss to Sabah last week, Alberts too opined that the team deserved to lose as they were playing badly.
He however took his part of the responsibility and admitted that he have applied the wrong method of preparation before the match.
“As it has been raining here in Kuching for the past few weeks, we resorted to train at some futsal court in Matang area. Our players failed to apply all our training on the actual field during the match,” he added.
Alberts subsequently revealed that will be the last time that the Crocs will be training on a futsal court.
Meanwhile, Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) has hoped that fans will also come to watch the Crocs play tonight as their presence is much needed in giving the team morale support.
“We are hoping that the fans will treat the friendly match tonight as an actual match. We want a lively atmosphere in the stadium tonight,” commented FAS deputy president Datu Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki.
The Sarawak versus SPA Putrajaya match kicks off 8.15 tonight at the Stadium Negeri.
Junior Eldstal and Ashri Chuchu are also both expected make a return to first team action.