Football fans in Brunei will have to wait a little bit longer to see their U-15 national team in action after this weekend's Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) - Frenz Under-15 ASEAN Champions Trophy Group B match was postponed to a later date.
National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) Under-15 was supposed to take on Myanmar Mandalay Academy at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas on Saturday.
"I was informed this morning by the NFABD that the match will be postponed. I am not sure what the problem was. I heard it had something to do with the flight schedule," said NFABD Under-15 head coach Liew Chuan Fue in an interview with The Brunei Times last night.
NFABD Under-15 fell to a 4-1 defeat in their opener against Frenz Indonesia last Saturday.
Striker Muhd Syahmi Rasyid put the host ahead in the game but Imanes Novanrianto, Ichtio Nimatul Akbar, Dicky Rhomadhona Firmansyah and Abdul Ali Nahumarury would score a goal each for the visitors.
"I was surprised to hear about the postponement because we have been practising over the past few days. However, this is also very good news for us. This will give us more time to train," continued Liew, who only had his first training session with the team last Wednesday.
"When I heard about it this morning, I immediately turned my attention to our first away game on June 15 against Frenz Malaysia B. It will be a very tough game for us and I am very happy that we will have the time to prepare for the match," he said.
Brunei was also scheduled to play Lao Toyota FC from Laos at Chaoanouvong Stadium in Vientiane for their first match on May 25, but the match is also postponed to a later date due to unavoidable circumstances.
A new date has yet to be announced by the organising committee.
Myanmar Mandalay Academy, Lao Toyota Academy and Philippines Global FC Under-15 are the other teams in Group B.
Group A is made up of Frenz Malaysia A, Singapore NFA, Vietnam PVF Academy, Phnom Penh Crown Academy, Thailand Chonburi Academy and Timor Leste U-15s.
The tournament which is the brainchild of the FAM Deputy President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and the Frenz United Football Academy of Pahang, Malaysia, offers a grand prize US$50,000 to the champions. US$25,000 will go to the runners-up.
The top two of each group will progress to the semi-finals, contested over two home and away legs. The two legs of the grand finals are slated for August 24 and September 1.
