Courtesy: Daily Express


UMS FC's hopes dwindle

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Kota Kinabalu: UMS FC's hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the National Felda/FAM Futsal League 2010 Championship dwindled after the team registered another disappointing result in their group fixtures, yesterday.

The women's team from Universiti Malaysia Sabah failed to break the dead-lock in their match against Selangor, before allowing their opponents to steal victory from under their noses. The match seemed to be heading for another draw but a late strike gave Selangor the winner in the dying minutes of the game.

In a late match on Friday, UMS FC were forced to share a spoiler after drawing 2-2 with Selangor MBPJ.

The team squandered a 2-0 lead no thanks to their keeper, who was blamed by their coach for making two crucial mistakes.

"We were looking good after gaining a two goal lead but our keeper made two mistakes which later proved crucial for our qualification to the semi-finals," said team coach, Mohd Asyraaf Fong Abdullah.

The team's poor performance was largely due to a lack of players as several members of the squad were forced to miss out on the grand final due to injuries and other commitments.

"I think much of our inability to perform well in the grand finals was due to a lack in reserve players.

Some members of our squad could not continue in this stage of the tournament because of injuries and study commitments.

"This left us with fewer players which in the end forced us to play a tight match schedule with no options in terms of reserve players," said Asyraaf.

The team's only hope of making it to the last four is if the Felda United versus Selangor MBPJ match ends in a 1-1 draw.

The match result was not available at press time as the game was postponed due to bad weather, which supposedly damaged the stadium's roof and drenched the playing courts.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com