KEDAH Darul Aman (KDA) FC head coach Mohd Nafuzi Zain was moved by the commitment of his players on the pitch with sterling play to defeat KL City FC in the Malaysia Cup at Darul Aman Stadium here last night.
He said that although his team are still facing internal problems that saw several players not fielded at the last minute, it did not discourage the rest from giving their best performance.
“A meaningful victory, congratulations to the players and at the same time I am very moved by their determination and spirit even though the team are in a less than desired situation with various shortcomings.
“We knew that meeting KL City would be very challenging because they are one of the fancied teams in the Malaysia Cup, but we were able to play well, what is important is that we recorded a victory,” he said after the match which saw KDA FC defeat KL City FC with a score of 3-2 last night.
Nafuzi admitted that he was a worried man at first after the foot-dragging of several players who abstained from the match, but refused to blame them for the situation (of salary arrears) that currently afflicts the team.
He said that the shortage of ‘willing players’ resulted in only one substitution to be made while most of the others were carrying injuries and fatigue, which affected their focus.
“During the team briefing (yesterday) afternoon, some decided not to play, and the total number of players we ended up with was 11 players and one reserve, that’s all we had, we got lucky because we only have 11 players on the field.
“It’s hard to describe the pre-match problems to grapple with before we secured this victory so I think this may be a trial of sorts, a challenge, an experience for me as a coach,” he said.
