Haji Mohammad Yunos bin Haji Mohammad Yusof is a

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

an former national

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and current

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

coach. He was once a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

renowned for his superb agility and dexterity during his time with the Brunei representative team playing in the Malaysia leagues, and he ended his career on a high by winning the 1999

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

Playing career

National career

Yunos joined the national representative team in 1985, replacing

Ali Ismail Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and ...

, who had retired from football at the age of 25. He began a 15-year rivalry with the much taller goalie Ibrahim Abu Bakar, frequently trading places in the well-supported Brunei team for many years to come in the

M-League The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the professional football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions ...

. After helping Brunei achieve a record highest position of third in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, Yunos lost his place to Ibrahim after Mick Jones took over from David Booth midway through the 1999 season. Nevertheless, he is remembered today as a member of the Brunei team that won the Malaysia Cup in the same year, and it was the perfect opportunity to end what was a long and arduous career.

International career

Yunos was already playing for

as early as 1981 when he donned the gloves for Brunei's under-16 team at the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

Lion City Cup The Lion City Cup is a youth football tournament for boys. It was founded in 1977 by then Football Association of Singapore chairman Nadesan Ganesan, who organized the only Under-16 football tournament in the world, following the recommendation o ...

. He was the keeper when Brunei contested and won the last ever Borneo Cup between Brunei and the state sides of

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

in November 1987. He appeared in approximately six editions of the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

from 1987 to 1997, losing in all but one game in the mentioned period (the one game being a 2–2 draw against

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

at the 18th SEA Games). However, on a brighter note, Yunos was in goal for Brunei's 1–0 victory over the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

at the

1996 Tiger Cup The 1996 AFF Championship, sponsored by Asia Pacific Breweries and officially known as the 1996 Tiger Cup, was the inaugural edition of the AFF Championship. It was hosted by Singapore from 1 to 15 September 1996 with all 10 nations of Southeas ...

held in

on 8 September. This game marked Brunei's first-ever clean sheet in an international fixture, as well as the first win for the Wasps in nine years.

Coaching career

After his retirement, Yunos went into coaching for futsal, namely the national futsal team of Brunei, which featured some of his old teammates like Sabtu Lupat and Azmanuddin Gillen. His first assignment was the

2003 AFF Futsal Championship The 2003 AFF Futsal Championship was held in Kuantan, Malaysia from 1 to 6 July 2003. Cambodia were the original hosts for this edition of the tournament but were unable to get their venue ready in time. Subsequently, the ASEAN Football Federati ...

held in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. In a pulsating match against the hosts on 3 July that finished 4–5, Yunos was sent off to the stands for dissent. Yunos replaced

Rosanan Samak Haji Mohammad Rosanan bin Abdullah Samak (born 18 July 1965) is a Bruneian football coach and former player, who played as a striker most notably with the Brunei team that played in the Malaysian league in the 1990s. He was a member of the ...

for the national coach position after a disastrous 2007 AFF Futsal Championship and prepared a team that won gold at the 2nd Borneo Games later in December. He then led Brunei to a fourth-place finish at the 2008 AFF Futsal Championship. Yunos could not replicate his success at the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

editions of the AFF Futsal Championship, where he lost every match. However, in his coaching comeback in the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

tournament, Brunei managed to win 5–0 against the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yunos Yusof 1965 births Living people Bruneian Muslims Men's association football goalkeepers Bruneian men's footballers Brunei men's international footballers Kota Ranger FC players Brunei (Liga Premier team) players