Mehmet Durakovic, Perak v Selangor, Malaysia Super League, 10 Jul 2019

Durakovic excited by Perak's clean bill of health

When the Super League was stopped in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, a couple of days before the Movement Control Order was announced by the Malaysian government, Perak were sitting pretty in second place after four rounds of matches played.

Only two points behind Johor Darul Ta'zim in the standings, there was a real possibility of a title fight between the two teams for the 2020 season. Now fast forward four months later, the situation is less clear as there has been no matches played during this period.

Slowly but surely football has been allowed to return by the highest authority in Malaysia starting with the individual training that began on June 15 and the contact training that will begin on July 15. The Malaysian government has also given the green light for competitive matches to be played as early as August 15.

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"Everything depends on MFL on what is the priority before they decide on the actual dates for the resumption of the M-League. Now we have the time to gather our players in the same session and whether we begin next month or in September, all the teams are in the same boat.

Perak, Malaysia Super League, 07032020DS Regime

"Everyone will experience the same things in terms of period of training, so it's not a problem. If it starts in August maybe there will be some reasoning behind it but I leave it at the hands of MFL because either options are comfortable for me.

"I'm very satisfied with the physical level of my players and there are currently no injury concerns. It's all about working harding in training to regain back the game momentum," said Mehmet Durakovic in an interview with Malaysian Football League (MFL).

After the high of finishing second in the 2018 season, which saw them competing in the 2019 AFC Champions League qualifying round, Perak dropped down to fifth in the 2019 season. Despite the loss of influential figure in Brendan Gan prior to the start of the 2020 season, the Bos Gaurus has shown great fighting spirit in the opening rounds of the new season.

Still unbeaten, Durakovic's side will feel that with the league reduced to just 11 matches and only seven remaining, they will have a real say on where the title will head to in 2020. If Perak can keep their squad injury-free for the rest of the season, a finish like 2018 could be on the cards.

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