KUALA LUMPUR − The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will again bank on the national Under-23 squad to bag the “mother of all medals” at the Hanoi SEA Games from May 12-23.
FAM secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar said there was no issue regarding the decision to send the Under-23 squad, who are trained by head coach Brad Maloney, despite them having a packed schedule.
He said this after the panel of coaches had discussed and identified the players to be chosen to shoulder Malaysia’s challenge without jeopardising the team’s preparations for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Asian Cup Championship in Uzbekistan in early June.
He said the discussion, which took into account the involvement of the Under-23 players with the Harimau Malaya squad in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers 2023, also in June, involved Maloney, senior squad head coach Kim Pan-Gon and FAM technical director Scott O’Donell.
“So far, there are no problems, all three individuals are cooperating and understand the needs of each team,” he said when contacted by Bernama yesterday.
Saifuddin, at the same time, said the national Under-23 squad had been placed under Category B with the national men and women’s futsal teams while the eRimau squad, who are representing Malaysia in e-Sports, would compete under Category A at the biennial SEA Games.
He said FAM would not send their women’s football team (to the SEA Games) and did not state any reason for the decision.
“So far, we have no problem with the football team being placed under Category B because it is based on the result of the previous edition (of the SEA Games). So, when we win a medal, hopefully we will be placed in Category A,” he said.
For the record, the Under-23 squad under the guidance of Datuk Ong Kim Swee failed to get past the group stage of the 2019 SEA Games edition in the Philippines after having led them to the silver medal in the 2017 edition on home soil.
The last time Malaysia won the “mother of all medals” was in the 2011 edition in Indonesia with Kim Swee guiding them to victory. – Bernama, March 3, 2022
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