PETALING JAYA: Negri Sembilan will be without several foreign players but are determined to make their presence felt against Brunei in the Super League.
The Deer will be hunting for their second league win at the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium today, hoping to improve on their eighth position in the standings.
They will be without Japan’s Mio Tsuneyasu, Singapore’s Ryaan Sanizal, and Myanmar’s Wai Lin Aung, who are still recovering from injuries.
Head coach Daniel Gimenez remains confident of their chances. “The players are ready. Everyone else can play and are able to be on the team list, so that’s good news,” said Gimenez.
The Spaniard knows his side cannot afford to take their opponents lightly as the Wasps have displayed consistent performance in recent matches, describing them as a dangerous side with high technical skills.
“Brunei are coming in with a good performance record. They have achieved strong results, except against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), but even against them, they still showed a commendable fight.
“They know what they are doing, have clear ideas on the pitch, which will make our match a challenging test. But like every week, we go into every match with the goal of winning,” he said.
Brunei recently lost 0-2 in their FA Cup semi-final first-leg match against JDT, but are coming off back-to-back wins in the Super League after beating Kuching City 3-2 and Sabah 2-1.
They also came from behind to beat Terengganu 5-4 on aggregate in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Negri have five points, with their only win coming in their opening league match against Kuala Lumpur in August, when they won 3-0. They have since lost two matches and drawn two.
