KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — The Sabah football team received a huge boost ahead of their Super League clash against champions-elect Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Iskandar Puteri, tomorrow when the latest Covid-19 swab tests of all their players came back negative today.
Sabah head coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto said the team had been tested twice this week, once before they left Kota Kinabalu and again when they arrived in Johor Baru yesterday.
He said they flew to Johor Baru in a private plane to ensure the risk of Covid-19 infection was kept to a minimum.
“Before we left, we carried out a swab test on Monday (Sept 28) and the results were all negative. We did the swab test again when we reached here,” he said in a statement issued by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) today.
Now that they have got the all-clear medically, Kurniawan said his players are in high spirits and ready to give a tough fight to JDT, who need just one point to lift the Super League title for a seventh consecutive time since 2014.
“The match against JDT is crucial for us to secure our place in the Super League next season. Although we are now up to the ninth spot (in the 12-team standings) following our win over Melaka last week, it’s still not enough to guarantee that we can beat the drop,” he said.
With two matches remaining, JDT lead the Super League standings with 23 points while Sabah, who are ninth with nine points (two wins, three draws and four defeats), are still not safe from the drop zone as they are just two points ahead of 11th-placed Felda United (seven points). — Bernama
