Sports

Thursday October 1, 2009

Crocs out of depth

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak are paying a heavy price for the gamble with a low budget team comprising President’s Cup (Under-20) players in the Malaysia Cup competition.

They suffered the humiliation of a 0-8 rout by Negri Sembilan in a Group B match at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi on Tuesday.

Caretaker coach Abdol Wahet Uji said that the senior players from their Premier League squad had abandoned the team after having gone without salaries for months.

“It is out of our hands and I don’t blame them for walking out on the team,” said Wahet yesterday.

“We were left with no other choice but to ask for volunteers and the President’s Cup boys to fit into our plans. They come into the team on some conditions too.

“They will only be paid a token sum of between RM500 and RM900 for their services as we are in a financial crisis and flat broke. It is a pittance compared to what other teams pay their players.

“But we are proud of our boys. They will be learning it the hard way and hopefully they will gain from this experience.”

The FA of Sarawak (FAS) have debts close to RM2mil.

Wahet, who is also the FA’s executive secretary, said that they owed close to RM1mil in stadium rentals and the rest were in salaries and payments to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

“The FAS are doing their best to sort out this mess. There are people who help us out with the flight arrangements but we badly need sponsors to bail us out,” he said.

Sarawak, who have defender Fadly Kassim as the only senior player left in the team, also lost their opening match in the Malaysia Cup competition last Saturday. But they were narrowly beaten (0-1) by Terengganu in a highly-charged match at home, which saw a total of nine bookings, including two red cards.

The last time Sarawak got whipped by a huge margin in a competitive match was against Kashima Antlers of Japan in the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup in 1999.

They were beaten 0-10 in the return match after having lost 2-4 in the home leg.

Sarawak’s next match in the Malaysia Cup is against Johor in Kuching on Saturday.

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