jdt coach joao almeida, gives his thoughts ahead of circuit 8

1.Massive game at the weekend against Selangor who still have a 100% record, can you become the first team to take points off them?

It is a great game to play, great game for Malaysian futsal and also for the MPFL development. We will fight with everything we have, thats everything we must always do. I know the quality of our team, our spirit and mentality, 100% belief on our plan and on our players, and also sure that with our supporters and the spirit of Johor we will have one extra power to take the game on our way.

2.Where do you see the key to getting a positive result from the match?

The key is to keep the focus under pressure, to don't allow the emotions and our big heart to determine or affect our decision making capacity. We know what to do, we know what we want, together and with full ambition we will focus on what to explore, on what to block and in the end, the outcome will be the result of these small wins during the game.

3.How important is finishing second at least to make sure you go straight through to the semi-finals?

Finishing first and second is a good advantage to the Semi Finals, it is one game less, it is the possibility to work with more time on the next target. We can play with what we control and that's all we must do, take the 12 points until the end of the season and see what happens until the end, the first place is possible until the mathematics make it possible.

4.Psychologically would a win give you the edge heading into the play-offs

I think the distance between the top 3, from the quality point of view, is very short and the other 6 teams did a great work growing and imposing new challenges game by game. So I think all wins must build the moment for the playoffs. Our biggest lessons until now didn't came with the wins, our players faced the less positive moments with great character and we came from them stronger. But there is one important point, we play for JDT, this is enough as motivation, we play for a club where the sky isn't the limit, and that trust us to push further everydays, there isn't bigger motivation than this, being empowered and having the responsibility to represent this club.

5.Its been a while since circuit six, how have the preparations gone?

We took 10 days break, we started to train in February, it is already 7 months of training and playing, we needed this little break, to disconect a bit and refresh our mind for what is coming. Since then, we started to train hard, pick up physically, review our game principles and add some new game solutions to explore during the last stage of the season. We are ready!