KUALA NERUS: Terengganu FC (TFC) head coach Tomislav Steinbruckner hailed his players for successfully taking the Turtles to the Malaysia Cup final this season.
The Croatian said his players had put up a tough fight against KL City FC in Friday night’s second leg semifinal match to reach the final after last qualifying in 2018. He said that although Ivan Mamut is considered the hero for contributing two goals for TFC to win 4-2 on aggregate, but without the hard work of all players, including the younger ones, all planning and tactics would have been in vain.
“Ivan is a good player but we had so many good players on the pitch tonight (last night). Yes, probably it was the best perfomance of Ivan and he brought us to the final, but we are a team.
“All players are important.
Also, young players like Ubai (Muhammad Ubaidillah Shamsul Fazili) and Syahmi (Muhamad Syahmi Zamri) were very good.
So, I don’t want to talk only about Ivan because we are a team,” he told the post-match press conference after the match against the City Boys at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium here.
TFC qualified for the prestigious Malaysia Cup with a 4-2 aggregate victory after defeating KL City 2-1 last night and will face Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) on Dec 9 for the championship decider.
Meanwhile, Steinbruckner acknowledged the tough challenge they will face from the Southern Tigers, the defending champions and winners of the Super League for nine consecutive years.
However, he assured that he will make the best plans and preparations for the team and the supporters of the Turtles.
“We know who is JDT and their quality. We will try to prepare and play good in that match (final). But it is too early… we will see,” he said, hoping for the fans’ support to continue to inspire the black and white team in the Malaysia Cup final. – BERNAMA
