T-Team in bad form ahead of Malaysia Cup

THE fasting month is taking its toll on T-Team players.
 

Newly appointed assistant manager Rashid Jusoh said the team are not in the best of shape ahead of the Malaysia Cup starting on Sept 6.

"Most of the players are still sluggish during training. When we conducted a fitness test recently, almost half of them failed miserably," said Rashid.

"This conduct is unbecoming of professional players and excuses such having too long a break after the Super League ended and getting used to the fasting month are unacceptable." 
 

Rashid, who previously helmed the State Sports Council before pursuing a Master's degree in Sports Science in Perth two years ago, said fitness is the key to success in any sport.

"It is a good thing we have almost a month to get the players into shape but we have to work doubly hard to have them fit and ready for the Malaysia Cup competition," he said.

"We are in enough trouble already without our top two goalkeepers -- Syamsuri Mustaffa and Zairie Hafizie Idris -- who are still recuperating from surgery, and we do not want more problems from our unfit players." said Rashid, who is taking over team management duties from State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Rozi Mamat for the Malaysia Cup campaign.

"The strongest team in the group must be Selangor but we have nothing to fear as we beat them home and away in the league this season.

"While we are unfamiliar with Police, we have to be careful with Kuala Lumpur as the city boys proved to be a nuisance by beating us twice in the league."

Coach Yunus Alif said Perlis midfielder Mohd Faiz Subri will not be playing for T-Team in the Malaysia Cup.

"He failed to secure a release from his employer and it looks like we have only two on-loan signings -- goalkeeper Mohd Jibrail Kamaron Baharin from Pos Malaysia and striker Mohd Fitri Omar from Muar Municipal Council FC.