Sabah and Melaka United played against each other on Sunday at Likas, Kota Kinabalu with both team set to undergo quarantine and swab test for COVID-19, as per Health Ministry’s instruction to those who travel from Sabah beginning from Sept 27 to Oct 10.
But only Melaka asked for a postponement against Kedah, as Sabah believes they can play against JDT tomorrow night due to the COVID-19 test showing all players were negative.
Sabah head coach, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, explained that his team did not intend to ask for a postponement since the COVID-19 test was done twice and came out negative, both before and after arriving in Johor Bahru.
Sabah team also arrived with a specially chartered aircraft to ensure that the risk of being infected with COVID-19 is at a minimum.
At the same time, Kurniawan also explained that his players were instructed to reduce any activities outside the house following the sharp increase in cases in the state of Sabah.
“Everything is still in good condition so far for the Sabah team and none of our players were infected with COVID-19, in fact we ourselves have taken strict compliance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) among the players.
“Before we left, we did a swab test on Monday and the result, all COVID-19 negative players and we did it again as soon as we got here.
“Thank God, both results are negative and we have no problem to continue the match agains tJDT as scheduled.
“I also appreciate the cooperation and assistance provided by the host, JDT,” he said.
The situation is different from the Melaka team which has sent an application to the Malaysian Football League (MFL) to request a postponement because they are undergoing a quarantine process after returning from Sabah.
That is why MFL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dato ‘Ab Ghani Hassan, in a media statement on Wednesday, announce that the Kedah and Melaka action which is scheduled to play this Friday at the Darul Aman Stadium, had to be postponed to Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kurniawan said his team’s situation is not affected by having to go through COVID-19 test procedures and is ready to challenge JDT who only need a draw to be the CIMB Super League champion for the seventh time in a row.
“We can still balance our training schedule even though a lot of time is given to go through the test procedure but for the sake of mutual safety and the compliance of SOP, I and the players obliged.
“Like last Monday, we chose to train in the morning after the test was conducted in the afternoon while training in Johor, as soon as we got the results today, we got the green light to do this evening.
“Match against JDT is important enough for us to confirm our place in the Super League next season. Even though we beat Melaka last week, it is still not enough,” he said.