BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (21 Oct 2012) – Kwon Oh Son of South Korea could not have gotten a better stamp of approval than from HRH Prince Sufri Bolkiah, the honorary president of the National FA of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD).
After guiding Brunei to perhaps their best ever performance in the qualifying round of the AFF Suzuki Cup, Prince Sufri said this week that the Brunei FA should keep faith with Oh Son and to give him time for the future.
“With regard to our current national team, I hope they continue to train together under our national coach (Kwon Oh-son, second from right in pix),” said Prince Sufri.
“The longer they play together, the better so that they can understand each other well. To create a strong team is not easy and there is no short cut to it.
“I believe the ministry and the national coach will look after them well and give them more exposure in the future. By doing that, all issues concerning the lack of concentration, mental preparedness or focus and team work can be addressed effectively.”
Prince Sufri also added that all football stakeholders in the country should work together to make sure that the game continues to grow and that the national side head in the right direction.
“Our future plan is to work closely with other football stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Department of Youth and Sports and sponsors. Working closely with them is the key for football development as a whole and the establishment of a strong national team on all levels,” added Prince Sufri, who is also the president of the Brunei National Olympic Council.
“I hope that every effort will be made to create a second and junior team comprising talented young players. If we can create those teams now, I think we will see more good results in the next few years.”
Brunei began their campaign in the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 loss to Myanmar before bouncing back with a 3-2 victory over Cambodia in their second match.
They then fall 3-1 to Laos as they then put up their best performance to date with a 2-1 win over Timor Leste 2-1 in their qualifying tie.
