Priso leads Msida SJ's survival bid

Outside the inner sanctum of the Msida St Joseph FC committee and their coaching team, very few people had information about the pedigree of a player by the name of Priso Doding when the latter joined the Reds last summer.

It was a time of high scepticism at Msida as the Premier League club, having already lost the services of African lynch-pins Ibrahim Babatunde, Ousseni Zongo and Daniel Nwoke, were cashing in on their most prized assets - goalkeeper Omar Borg, Paul Fenech and Josef Mifsud - to improve their financial position.

New foreigners and a couple of loan signings were brought in by Msida coach Patrick Curmi who, conscious of his team's limitations, endeavoured to assemble a squad strong enough to challenge for Premier League survival.

A shaky start and the meagre impact of foreign imports George Ogbonna, from Nigeria, and Ouhachia Yacine, an Algerian striker, raised serious doubts about Msida's potential to fight for their status but the encouraging form of Doding, or Priso as he prefers to be called, was like a ray of light in the darkness.

Msida have not turned the corner yet and a gruelling struggle in the Relegation Pool awaits them over the next three months but a positive run of two wins and a draw in their last three matches has given way to justified optimism.

Their success in keeping hold of Priso during the January transfer window is one of the key factors behind their revival as the Cameroon youngster is proving to be an exceptional signing for Msida.

"Before I came to Malta, I was training with Nancy in France," Doding told The Times.

"They wanted me to stay but didn't offer me a professional contract. I opted to join Msida after my agent, who has got good contacts with the club, told me of their interest. I decided to come to Malta because it's a European country, a good stepping stone for my career."

Priso is understandably delighted about Msida's improved form of late but he knew beforehand that the team were in for a hard campaign.

"On joining Msida, I spoke with the coach and the players about the team's prospects," Priso said.

"They told me that there had been many changes in the team from the previous season and almost half the players were new. The first few months were always going to be difficult, especially when the other foreigners in the team were struggling to adapt. Yacine told me that he had not trained for six months before he came here and it was clear that he needed time to improve his match fitness.

"Now it looks like we've recovered from those early problems. We've been playing well and I'm convinced that Msida would have qualified for the Championship Pool if our level of performance in the first round was as good as it has been lately. Next year, we will do better."

Priso agrees with the popular view that Valletta and Sliema Wanderers have the strongest squads in the Premier League.

"Valletta and Sliema are the best at present," Priso remarked. "Of the two, I like Valletta more because they play as a team. Their fighting spirit makes them stronger."

Given his traits as a fast and agile forward, one would expect Priso to warm to players with similar qualities but his revelation of the Maltese players he rates most came as a surprise.

"Valletta have a strong defender in Josef Mifsud," Priso commented.

"Tyrone Farrugia, the son of our president, is also very talented. He's tall and strong, two qualities so important in football nowadays.

"Hibs' no. 10 (Andrew Cohen) is very skilful."

Superb goal

On Sunday, Priso crowned another high-tempo performance with a superb goal, his seventh in the league, that earned Msida a 3-2 win over Floriana.

Now the Premier League connoisseurs are talking of Priso as one of the most exciting players in the top flight but those who had the chance to peruse his CV, knew that Msida were signing a bright talent.

Last month, Msida let it be known that Priso was attracting interest from foreign clubs but in the light of the team's on-going struggle to avoid the drop, they resisted overtures for their chief forward.

Priso revealed that Bundesliga giants Hamburg had offered him a trial.

"I was close to leaving Msida last month," he said.

"Hamburg SV invited me for a trial and their interest was high because they formed a good impression of me after watching a DVD they received from my agent.

"After speaking to the Msida president (Robert Farrugia) about this matter, I decided to stay put. I've signed a two-year contract with Msida and I personally think that January is not the best month for a player to join a new club.

"I'd rather move in the close season as that would give me time to train for a new campaign with the new team. In the past few days, I was told that a US team, Seattle, were interested in signing me as the league there starts next month but I don't think I'm going. My focus is on helping Msida stay in the Premier League."

At 19, Priso has already represented Cameroon at U-23 level and has high hopes of playing for the country in the Beijing Olympics in August.

"I've played for Cameroon's U-23 team and I'm confident of earning another call-up to the squad for the team's final Olympics qualifier next month," Priso said.

"I've been part of the Cameroon U-17, U-20 and U-23 teams and my ambition is to play for the seniors. First, I want to do my best to get into Cameroon's squad for the Olympics as that would certainly boost my chances of gaining promotion to the senior team."

His sights are also set on earning a move to a major European league with Spain and France on top of his wish-list.

"I like the Spanish and French leagues," Priso noted. "France would be ideal as I speak fluent French."

Curmi, the Msida coach, is backing Priso to advance in his career.

"Priso is a true professional who leads by example," Curmi said.

"He's also very serious about his football and I think he's got a very bright future ahead of him. His ambition is to play for Cameroon in the next African Cup and I wouldn't bet against him reaching his goal."

The Msida coach is happy that he can count on Priso to lead the team's quest for Premier League survival until the end of the season.

"There was interest from foreign clubs in Priso but the club decided to keep him," Curmi explained.

"He is a key player in our fight to keep our Premier League status."