Journalist: Assalamualaikum Tunku, congratulations on JDT being in the quarter-finals. What are Tunku’s feelings and comments about it?
TMJ: I’m proud that JDT is in the quarter finals. Being in the quater finals itself is already an achievement. Jose Maurinho mentioned to me when I met him in Singapore recently that for an achievement in football you need 3 things. 1st you need to have a good organisation. Second is good planning and preparation, and thirdly, a little bit of luck. I’ll give you an example. In 2002, Argentina had the best world cup squad ever in Japan. They had amazing depth in their squad but they failed to even pass the group stage. Another example is JDT last year. We started the season very poorly. We had issues inside and outside the pitch. We were losing players and our funds were depleting rapidly. But despite all this, we ended up winning the league and the AFC Cup. That’s the beauty of football.
So in regards to our AFC Cup campaign, being in the AFC competition is already an honour and being in the quater finals is an even greater achievement. I’m happy with where we are today. I’m realistic when it comes to achievements. AFC is another ball game and of a different quality entirely. We broke the record last year by being the only team in the country that went to the semi finals. Adding to this, we then went on to be the first team in South East Asia to win the AFC Cup. So for the game tonight obviously I’m hoping for a good result but if not, no problems. It’s because realistically speaking, it is already tough enough to win the AFC cup and to defend the title it is almost impossible. But like I said anything can happen in football. If the result is good, good. If it’s otherwise, we go back to work and try again as we will still be going to be in the AFC competition next year anyways. Stay positive. The policy of this club is simple. It is to do well domestically as well as internationally. What is happening right now. So I’m happy.
Journalist: Thank you, Your Highness.
TMJ: Welcome.
