Sabah players urged to give full effort in President Cup

The President Cup players for the new season have been urged to give their full commitment in their training session.

Coach Johnny Dominicus told the players on Tuesday that he expects the players to give one hundred percent effort in order for the team to make an impact in the competition, which will start on Jan 26.

He said discipline is of utmost importance for the young players and warned that any players whom he or any of the officials find that have failed to produce their best may face the axe.

He reminded the players that only 18 players would get to travel with the team for the competition and hopes that will drive them to train even harder in a competitive way to make the squad.

He told Express Sports after their training session at the Likas Sports Complex lake jogging track that the State FA is allowed to review the position of their players 30 days after the first match.

"We may drop any players during the period and this is good as it will put the players on their toes and not taking their position in the squad for granted."

Meanwhile, three players who had played for other teams in the President Cup competition last season have all reported for duty.

Two of them have three years of experience with goalkeeper Nik Yus Saiddatul Sofien B. Yusup from Labuan who played for Sime Darby team last season and two years for Felda United previously.

While fellow islander Razid B. Gaffar who is a centre back, having plied his trade at KL Plus for one year and for the past two years with the Kuala Lumpur team.

The other is Tawau born Mohd Izdihar Qaedi Bin Jidi.

The 17 -year-old right back who had just completed his SPM examination played for Bukit Jalil Sports School last season.

The trio were seen joining the other players in their second day of training and they were given some light strength training followed by some footwork and agility training in the afternoon.

The team will be given their first taste of competitive match against UMS in a friendly match at the UMS stadium tonight at 7.30pm.