KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 – Sarawak United will be without their Brazilian ace Sandro Mendonca for the crunch match against Negeri Sembilan in a top-of-the-table Premier League clash at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi, Seremban this Saturday.
Chief coach E. Elavarasan has confirmed that Sandro is out for the next five or six weeks with a bad knee injury that also kept him out of the home match against Police in the last match over the weekend.
Police pulled off a shock 2-0 win in the match played at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka.
The Golden Hornbills have suffered a spate of injuries of late. South Korean midfielder Lee Chang-hoon also missed the Police match because of an injury, while towering Australian defender Taylor Regan picked up an ankle injury minutes into the match and was replaced.
Elavarasan will take stock of the players tonight (Monday) when the team reports for training – keeping his fingers crossed that the injury list will not grow as he needs his best players to face Negeri Sembilan.
Negeri Sembilan sits on the top of the table with 17 points from eight matches. Sarawak United, however, has a game over their rivals and lies in the second spot on 16 points. Johor Darul Takzim’s feeder squad JDT II is third on 14 points from eight matches.
The defeat to lowly Police could be a blessing in disguise for the Golden Hornbills and Elavarasan hopes the team will ”bounce back” from the jolt against Police.
Elavarasan and company had a sleepless night after the team’s first defeat but had come to terms with the setback – ready to rebound and keep it hot and interesting at the top of the table standings.
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