vs Football Regional West (Australia) drew 1-1
vs Spartans FC (Kuala Lumpur) won 2-0
vs KK Rovers (Sabah) won 1-0
vs Ty Sports Academy (Korea) drew 1-1
vs Soccerkix Academy (Labuan) won 3-2 (penalties)
We have achieved our target of finishing in the top 4 in this tournament by placing 3rd. It was a tournament of the highest quality which, according to the tournament organizers, was better participated than last year. We could see that Kickalob have managed to close the gap in playing standard with the other teams. We even managed to hold the repeat champions Ty Sports Academy from Korea to a draw. We had to beat the Koreans to gain top spot in our group but they scored against us 4 minutes from time to gain that precious point to top our group. It was rather unfortunate that the tournament does not have crossover semi-finals; the players were confident that we could go all the way to win the tournament!! Players who received special mention - Syazani, Faez, Fiffy, Alexs, Shahrol, Zuhairi.
The most important improvement was our ability to instill into our players the spirit of “Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban” which was missing in last year’s tournament. Our team received plenty of compliments and praises from the other teams for the fighting spirit and positional commitment of each of our players. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done in order for us to further close that gap. We cannot be complacent with what we have achieved and the work must continue vigorously with undivided commitment from our coaches, players and their parents.
We must be proud of this achievement because our U16 squad is made up predominantly of players 15 years in below. People may question why we should be proud of 3rd place; to me, it's not so much as getting 3rd place but more because of the way we achieved it:
* our players were more cohesive in attacking and denfending
* our players were not intimidated by our opponents' size and style of play
* our players were full of the "agi idup, agi ngelaban" fighting spirit
* our players were able to execute our game plans despite being overcome by fatigue (they played 5 matches in 3 days)
* our players showed more maturity (compared to last year) in the way they approach each match
Because of this, we should be going to Kota Kinabalu next year with a more matured squad.
We would like to thank those who had made our trip possible – YB Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, YB Sharifah Hasheedah, CMS Cement Sdn Bhd, Sarawak Energy Bhd, SAS Properties Sdn Bhd, Football Association of Sarawak, Harwood Timber Sdn Bhd, Persatuan Bolasepak Bahagian Samarahan, Encik Heidle Heli, Encik Razali Dolhan, Akjaemura Jaya Sdn Bhd, Sri Andaman Q Sdn Bhd and a few other anonymous sponsors. Without their financial support, we would not have been able to participate in this tournament which is the yardstick of our Project 2015 squad. Last but not least, the highest appreciation is in order for our coaches who have given their highest commitment to Kickalob’s vision. Our coaches – Awang Azami, Rosli Akup, Saiful Bahri Beli, Syazwan Heikle Bakry – have done this over the past 3 years on a voluntary basis and this must be applauded.
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