BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
After having been parachuted into the Malaysia Super League, MISC-MIFA are now hard at work trying to sign players in preparation for the 2019 season kick-off.
When met following their 1-0 pre-season friendly match win over Malaysia U-22 on Saturday, head coach Devan Kuppusamy said that they already have three foreign players on their roster, and are looking to sign two more to fill their import player quota.
"We have retained two foreigners from the previous season; South Korean midfielder Bae Beom-geun and our Brazilian defender (Elizeu Araújo), while we have signed a Filipino defender.
"What's left is to sign two more foreigners in attacking roles. Two trialists played in the match just now, while a few more will arrive in the following week to try out," revealed the FA Cup and Super League-winning trainer to the press.
One of the trialists fielded on Saturday was 26-year old Brazilian-born East Timorese forward Pedro Henrique Oliveira, who scored the only goal of the match, a 12th-minute penalty.
The Filipino defender was later revealed to Goal by the club's media officer to be 22-year old Joshua Grommen, a Philippines U-23 international who last played club football for Davao Aguilas in the 2018 Philippines Football League.
They have also signed local players to their roster, added Devan. On top of signing former Selangor and Kelantan player Veenod Subramaniam and former Negeri Sembilan left back Aizulridzwan Razali, the club have also signed midfielder Marcus Mah, as well as former Malaysia U-23 international and Thamil Arasu Ambumamee.
The club will next play in friendlies against Pulau Pinang, JDT II and UKM FC, and they are planning to continue with more friendly ties in Thailand, before the league kicks off on February 1. Their first match in their top-tier debut will be away to Melaka United, on February 2.
They had earlier just missed out on automatic promotion last season, when they finished their Premier League campaign in third place, two points behind runners up Felcra FC. But when the Rivals decided to withdraw from competing, the promotion spot was handed to them.
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