KOTA KINABALU, Feb 12 — Sabah FC will not take lightly the challenge from Macarthur FC in the AFC Cup Zonal Semi-Final at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney, Australia tomorrow.

Sabah FC Head Coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee acknowledged the formidable nature of the challenge posed by Macarthur FC, who have remained unbeaten in their last seven A-League games.

"We don’t have a competitive game until tomorrow while Macarthur have eight A-League games this year, and with seven games unbeaten, definitely they are very fit for the game (tomorrow). I think Macarthur have A better advantage because they are playing in the league regularly.

"But we have most of our core base players to make sure we perform in this match,” he told the pre-match press conference at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney today.

A video of the Sabah FC pre-match press conference was made available to Bernama here today.

The Rhinos last competitive match was on December 17 last year in a Malaysian Super League game against Kedah Darul Aman at Likas Stadium here.

Sabah emerged triumphant with a 2-0 victory, finishing the league in third place with 54 points.

When queried about Sabah’s preparation, Kim Swee reassured that the team’s training and preparation in Australia are proceeding as planned.

"We arrived a couple of days ago and everything is going according to plan. We did keep watch of the (Macarthur) team and players of course because it is a very important game tomorrow. But things can change in the game and we will get ourself ready,” he said.

During the same press conference, Sabah midfielder Telmo Castanheira expressed full confidence that the team will perform admirably as they not only represent the state of Sabah but, more importantly, represent Malaysia.

"We have a fantastic team and fantastic performance last year in the league, we want to come here and show our quality tomorrow. It is important for us to perform well for Sabah and Malaysia,” he said. — Bernama