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KOTA KINABALU: The Rhinos have been told to make sure that football will remain the No 1 sport in the State!

In making the call, Rahman Zakaria said to do so the team must do well in the Premier League.

At the same time, they must also be consistent and produce results.

Besides that, he added, the players must also show a certain level of standard in their game.

“It is our duty to make sure that in Sabah football is still pretty much alive and kicking,” the Rhinos’ team manager said when met at their friendly match against Tawau at the Likas Stadium on Sunday.

Despite the fact that football in the country is slowly losing its popularity among the public, but in Sabah, Rahman said football is still the No 1 sport in the State.

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Tags: Friendly, Malaysia, Tawau

Host country Myanmar crushed Malaysia 4-1 yesterday to revenge for their 4-0 defeat to the same team last month. The game was held for the Grand Royal Challenge Cup in Yangon.

The national team was using this tournament as a warm-up preparation for the AFC Suzuki Cup to be held next month in Thailand. However as the results shown, they couldn’t build on their fine showing from the recently held Pesta Bola Merdeka where they lost the final on penalties.

With the pressure of playing in front of 30,000 Myanmar supporters, the players were suspects in mental strength. Coach B. Sathianathan blames the players for not following his advice when the team were trailing 2-1.

“The players were too eager to go upfront to find the equalising goal but were slow to defend when the ball was with the opposing team”, lamented Sathianathan.

He also said the partnership between defenders S. Subramaniam and Khairoonisam Sahabudin did not materialise well. They were replacing regulars Mohd. Daudsu Jamaludin and Irwan Fadhli Idrus who were out due to suspension and injury respectively.

News link (in Bahasa Malaysia) : Aksi masih tidak konsisten

Tags: Grand Royal Challenge Cup, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sathianathan, Suzuki Cup