Brunei U-18 team solve their No 1 problem

Brunei juniors ready for South Korean outing

Players who will represent Brunei at the Asian Schools Under-18 Football Championship will head to South Korea with more confidence after their main problem coming from between the posts has been resolved.

A better outing is expected this time around the 38th edition of the tournament because more emphasis has been put on the training of goalkeepers.

A lacklustre display by the country's goalkeepers had been one of the factors that had led to the national team's early exit in previous competitions, according to team manager Hj Narudin Hj Putih.

"In the last tournament, other countries had commented that we could play on the field but our weakness was in the goalkeeping area.

"Therefore this time, with the help of the FFBD (Football Federation of Brunei Darussalam), we had brought in a goalkeeper coach Hj Salihin to rectify the problem. There is definitely an improvement now," said the team manager.

Team chemistry is definitely not a problem. Though the players come from various teams, the majority of them are from the Brunei Youth Team (Under-16) that made their debut in the DST Group Brunei Premier League II last season.

A pet project of the FFBD, the team finished seventh in the 11-team table last year.

Not bad for a newly-established team playing against men in their debut season.

Their achievement said one of the team's founding members Lt Col Dr Bahrin Hj Bintang during a dinner-cum-prizegiving ceremony in March. exceeded everybody's expectation.

Set up to represent Brunei at competitions abroad, the time has come for the team to prove that they can deliver and there has never been a side more prepared than these players.

The 20 players had been training since early this year for the outing in Mokpo, under the guidance of 1999 Malaysia Cup winners, coach Liew Chuan Fue and assistant coach Hj Md Rosanan Abdullah Samak.

They started intensive training three months back and even the fasting month of Ramadhan did not derail their schedule.

In order to accommodate the fasting month, training hours were shifted to after the daily terawih prayers between 9pm to 10.30pm.

The five-day a week session was not simply limited to field training for the youngsters also held friendly matches against the best in the local football scene.

Among the teams that were pitted against them were DST Group Brunei Premier League I (BPL I) giants, QAF FC and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces' Sports Council (MS ABDB).

QAF FC were last season's BPL I champions, the Champions Cup winners and the DST Group Brunei League Cup holders.

MS ABDB, meanwhile, captured the DST Group FA Cup crown in the season finale to deny QAF FC of a historic quadruple.

"Sure there were wins and losses in these friendly matches but it's not the results that matters. It was more important to focus on finding what can be improved," said Hj Narudin.

Some 10 teams are expected to vie for the title in South Korea. Though the participants had not been confirmed yet for the Sept 7-19 tournament, besides Brunei, hosts South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are expected to contest the tourney.

Depending on the number of entries, teams will be divided into two or three groups.

With such systematic and proper preparation, Hj Narudin hopes that this time they will be able to better their previous achievements.

"Two years ago in China, we made it to the quarter-finals. While in Thailand last year, we were ousted in the group stage," said Hj Narudin, who will be the team manager for the third consecutive year.

"This time I hope that at least we can make it into the semi-finals. Any more than that will be a bonus," he added. Hj Narudin was speaking to The Brunei Times at a doa selamat and breaking of fast ceremony held at Nurinaz Restaurant in Gadong, which was attended by the players and committee members.

The Brunei Times