Glory’s players are raring to go ahead of tonight’s Malaysia Tour opener against Sarawak FA according to Head Coach Tony Popovic.
Despite only arriving in Kuching on Thursday evening, the squad already have three training sessions under their belts.
And although the heat and humidity are set to pose a real challenge at Stadium Negeri this evening, Popovic feels that it’s one his charges are keen to embrace.
“We’ve been made to feel so welcome since we arrived,” he said, “and the lads have trained well during the sessions that we’ve had so far.
“This game provides us with another very useful hit-out as we continue our pre-season and the whole group is looking forward to it.
“Obviously the conditions will be testing, but we’ll embrace them and continue to work on putting into practice what we’ve been focusing on in training.
“We’re all happy to be here in Sarawak, the players are keen, as always, to get out there and play and we hope that the local fans turn out in numbers for what I’m sure will be a great event.”
Popovic is likely to mix and match his 26-man squad for what is the first of two games in the space of four days, with Andy Keogh, Matt Spiranovic and Chris Harold the only confirmed absentees.
Predicted crowd estimates for the game range from 5 to 10,000, while the weather forecast is for a dry, overcast evening, albeit with the temperature still set to be hovering around 30 degrees at kick-off time (8.15pm) and the humidity level up in the mid-80s.
Sarawak FA, meanwhile, are also currently out of season, although their most recent campaign only ended in late July.
Ian Gillan’s men recorded an eighth-place finish in the Premier League which is the second tier of Malaysian football, below the Super League.
They recorded six wins from their 20 games, five of which came at home.
Nicknamed ‘The Crocs’, they are currently in something of a rebuilding phase having dropped out of the top flight in 2017.
You can follow all the action as it unfolds at Stadium Negeri via our Glory Twitter page.
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