His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah (pic), the Honorary President of the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD), has urged all parties involved in football to work hand in hand for the betterment of the game in the country.
Brunei returned home from the recently concluded ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup 2012 Qualifiers with two wins and two losses.
Despite failing to make it into the tournament proper, which will run from Nov 24 - Dec 22, the team showed plenty of heart and performed beyond all expectations considering the limited time they had to prepare for the Oct 5 - Oct 13 qualifying round.
HRH told The Brunei Times on Thursday: "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."
HRH also hopes the national squad will remain as one so they can continue to train together and gel better as a team.
"With regard to our current national team, I hope they continue to train together under our national coach (Kwon Oh-son)," HRH said.
"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," HRH, who is also the President of the Brunei National Olympic Council, said.
The Honorary President of the NFABD is also looking at a grassroots programme to boost the team's international standing.
"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," HRH said.
The Wasps, who were out of action for two years prior to the tournament, started their campaign with a 1-0 loss to Myanmar on Oct 5, despite putting up a remarkable performance.
They bounced back with a 3-2 victory over Cambodia after a strong second half last Tuesday and followed that with a controversial 3-1 defeat to Laos two days later.
Despite being out of the running to qualify for the tournament proper, the Sultanate put in a convincing performance to stun Timor Leste 2-1 in their final match on Saturday.
Myanmar ended the qualifiers at the top of the five-team table and will be in Group A with Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Laos, the runners-up, and will be in Group B with Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
Courtesy from Brunei Times
