KOTA KINABALU, Sept 19 -- The Sabah football team already have plans to bring in a new batch of import players to provide a stern challenge in their return to the Super League next season.
Sabah Football Association (Safa) president Datuk Peter Anthony said among the plans to bolster the squad was to bring in four new foreign players to strengthen their defence and attack.
"We can see that Sabah is lacking in defence and attack. Of course, we will be looking for better players to ensure we give a strong challenge to the other Super League teams.
"The matter has been discussed at the management level meeting and we have been eyeing some top quality players for the 'Tambadau' squad," he told reporters after watching Sabah's Malaysia Cup Group C final match against Perak at the Likas Stadium last night, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Commenting further, Peter said the new import players to be brought in were not necessarily fresh from abroad.
"There are players who are already in Malaysia...for example naturalised players, but we will also be going abroad to seek quality players," he said.
In addition to this, the squad would also be playing several friendly matches, including abroad for exposure.
Commenting on Sabah's performance in the Malaysia Cup campaign this time around, Peter noted that despite failing to advance into the quarter-finals, the players had shown superb fighting spirit and produced good performances.
"I am proud of their spirited display and in fact, we had not set targets in the Malaysia Cup, our main aim was to get promoted to the Super League, and this has been achieved and what makes us proud was to become 2019 Premier League champions," he said.
Sabah ended a seven-year wait to get back to Super League action when they edged UiTM FC 2-1 at the UiTM Stadium, Shah Alam on July 9, and the last time they played in the Super League was in 2012 where they ended up in 13th place before being relegated to the Premier League.
-- BERNAMA
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