The Keningau football team won the Fifth Sabah Games (Saga) football competition after defeating Kota Kinabalu 4-0 in the final which was held at the Keningau Sports Complex on Friday. 19-year-old Samsom Soliboy became an instant hit after claiming a hat-trick against the KK team in a match witnessed by a crowd of about 5,000, including Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Peter Pang En Yin, who later presented the medals to all the winners.
Dubbed the Keningau Lionel Messi, Samson, who was interviewed after the match said the three goals he scored in the match made it even more special as Keningau became the overall champion. Wearing the number 10 jersey, the local boy who was born in Kg Kitou Tambunan, but raised in Keningau said in the whole tournament, he actually had scored a hat-trick twice and dedicated the three goals he scored in the final to all the supporters as well as team members, including players and officials.
He said the effort as well as sacrifice in preparation for the tournament for the past one month before the Games had paid off beautifully for the lads in the Keningau football team. Samson said his hopes for the future is to be able to play for Sabah in bigger tournaments and bring glory to the people of the interior.
Meanwhile, team coach, Fred Vincent Marukau said the team went into the Games with a sort of positivity, considering the Keningau team had already beaten the KK team previously 6-0 in a game held at the Keningau Prison Field earlier.
"However, I urged my players not to be over confident as such complacency could backfire, if Kota Kinabalu realise our weaknesses, but looks like we did exactly the right thing tonight," he said.
Fred dedicated the win to all the people of Keningau who have been very supportive and been behind the team from the very beginning.