Brunei-Selangor Opening
By BennyAng

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's Malaysia Premier League campaign could not have gotten off to a much tougher start as they have been drawn to open their season against Selangor on Sunday February 15.

Despite being the only state team in Brunei's group, Selangor are probably the one team that Brunei would have wanted to avoid in the draw held on Sunday night in Kuala Lumpur.

But as fate would have it. Brunei were unable to avoid the Malaysian giants and to top it all off, they won't have to wait very long before encountering Selangoron the pitch.

Brunei's assistant team manager Hj Asmalee was in Kuala Lumpur to attend the draw and while he was quite happy to have avoided so many state teams, he admits that being drawn in the same group against Selangor was quite unfortunate.

"On one hand, we have just the one state team in our group so that was quite lucky. Yet the one state learn we wanted to avoid, Selangor, just happened to be the one state team in our group.

"Whether it is an advantage to play them so early remains to be seen but the draw has turned out alright for us," said Hj Asmalee.

However, there was one further twist of fate for the Wasps as it was revealed that they would have to play their first few matches of the season on opposition territory with the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium still undergoing renovation.

What would have been an exciting home opener against Selangor has been switched to the intimidating Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur and Brunei fans may have to wait an entire four or five matches before getting a chance to watch their team play at home.

It is an intriguing situation for Brunei as on one hand it means that they will probably finish the season with a collection of home games yet the onus is on the team to start strongly on the road and keep their season intact initially.

Tentatively, Brunei's first home game will now-come on Sunday March 7 against the Police when the pitch renovation will supposedly be completed for the team to resume their home games.

Apart from Selangor, Brunei will be more than familiar with the other opposition having spent the past few seasons battling it out with the club sides in the now-defunct Premier Two.

The other teams are Johor FC, Melaka Telekom, Police, Kelantan TNB, Kelantan JPS, Army and Selangor PKNS, all club sides yet have the proven pedigree to beat Brunei on any given day.

To make matters more urgent, only the top side from each group will be promoted to the Super League with the top two sides facing off in a one match final to be crowned champions of the Premier League.

However, the top four teams from each group will be given a berth in the Malaysia Cup, a tournament that Brunei have not managed to qualify after winning it in 1999. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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