Fabio Maciel Returns To Kuala Lumpur?

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Bernama) -- The riddle over the next Kuala Lumpur football squad coach became an issue again after Yusri Che Lah was confirmed quitting as coach on Monday. The name of the previous coach, Fabio Maciel da Silva, who was fired following poor performance last year, was now bandied about after the coach admitted he had received an offer from a Super League team and conceded his interest to return to the Malaysia League cauldron. Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) secretary general Nokman Mustaffa, however, declined to confirm the matter when asked. On the other hand, he merely revealed that a negotiation had taken place with the Brazilian coach. ‘’After yesterday’s defeat, KLFA have received five offers to train the Kuala Lumpur squad, two were locals while the rest were from abroad. ‘’Since the first loss (against Pahang), we have received offers from coaches keen to train Kuala Lumpur,’’ he said. For the record, Fabio Maciel was the coach responsible for taking ‘The Hawks’ back into the Super League after five seasons and winning the Premier League championship in 2017. However, he was the first victim of the Malaysia Cup after being immediately rested by KLFA believed to be due to a 1-5 loss experienced by The Hawks to Terengganu in the first Group A action on home ground. Meanwhile, Nokman confirmed that Yusri’s place would be taken over by assistant coach, Chong Yee Fatt before a new chief coach was appointed. Earlier, Yusri announced his resignation as the chief coach of the Kuala Lumpur squad effective immediately following a lacklustre performance of the team which was languishing at the bottom of the table after losing five matches consecutively this season. -- BERNAMA