Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto
KOTA KINABALU: Head coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto said he is focused on preparing the Rhinos ahead of the Super League season opener on Saturday.
The Indonesian trainer said this as Sabah FC faced the possibility of heading into the first game without the services of their recently recruited foreign imports.
Since returning to full training, only the retained South Korean defender Park Tae Su has been involved in the squad pre-season set-up.
“For the (foreign) imports, I’m hoping that they could join the squad as soon as possible,” said Kurniawan on Monday.
Sabah FC have previously announced Gabon international midfielder Levy Clement Madinda, Liberian team captain and striker Sam Johnson, North Macedonian defender Risto Mitrevski and Indonesian international winger Saddil Ramdani as their new foreign players.
Despite the uncertainty, Kurniawan was quick to stress that he is focused on getting the team ready for new season, where the Rhinos will face consecutive away fixtures in their opening two matches.
And he was happy with the progress made and work done with the players available to him.
“So far we have done our preparation to face the two away matches…against Malacca United FC and Kedah.
“In fact we have enter the tactical phase of our training and we are trying to maximise with what is available to us…in this case the existing players in the squad.
“I’m pleased and satisfied with the tactical works done with the team, which we are going to implement in the matches against Malacca United and Kedah,” he said.
Sabah will take on Malacca United at the Hang Jebat Stadium on March 6 and followed by Kedah at the Darul Aman Stadium on March 9.
For the record, Sabah will play their first home fixture against PJ City FC at the Likas Stadium on March 13.
Meanwhile, Kurniawan said midfielders Azwan Fattah, Maxsius Musa and newly signed local import N. Thanabalan are currently nursing injuries.
The head coach said the trio will be assessed before making a decision whether they are fit to be included for the opening matches.
“We are not going to rush them or any other players if they are not 100 per cent ready.
“Firstly, they are not going to be able to give their maximum best and secondly, we don’t want to risk the players (of further injuries) because they have not completely recovered.
“Azwan is still undergoing rehabilitation and so is Maxsius…we waiting for any development and see how things goes from there,” he said.