KUALA LUMPUR – National team head coach Kim Pan-gon has called up 29 players to join the centralised training camp for the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Malaysia will play Turkmenistan (June 8), Bahrain (June 11) and Bangladesh (June 14) at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. The team finishing top of the group will automatically qualify for Asian Cup, while the best five runners-up make it through.
The Asian Cup will feature 24 teams, and 13 teams have already qualified for the tournament. There are another 11 spots for the take.
However, among the 29 players called up, Kim retained 20 of the 25 footballers brought to Singapore for the Tri-Nations tournament in March.
Kim in a press conference at Wisma FAM today said that the players were selected based on their performance and compatibility towards the current technical playstyle.
“There are some new faces in this centralised training camp. There are nine new players who received a call-up this time.
“This is an opportunity for me to personally look at each player’s performance directly,” he said.
The nine new players selected include Guilherme de Paula Lucrecio (JDT), Matthew Davies (JDT), Afiq Fazail (JDT), Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed (Negeri Sembilan FC), Junior Eldstal (Chonburi FC), veteran Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (Melaka United FC), Syahmi Safari (JDT), Dareen Lok (Petaling Jaya FC), and Muhammad Nazmi Faiz Mansor (JDT).
At the same time, Aidil Zafuan Abd Razak, Ramadhan Saifullah Usman, and Zhafri Yahya is on the standby list while Luqman Hakim Shamsuddin and Quentin Cheng are currently with the national U-23 squad for the Hanoi SEA Games.
Kim also said that 23 players will make it to the final squad heading to the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Malaysia will play Brunei on May 27 after Myanmar pulled out due to “unforeseen circumstances”, followed by Hong Kong on June 1 as part of their preparations for the Asian Cup Qualifiers.
“This is the second call up since I took over, so I want to evaluate all the players and use the two friendly matches before the Asian Cup Qualifiers to help the selection process.
The South Korean added that based on the previous outing for the team, the coaching staff will focus on improving the playing style of the players.
“We won’t win by playing in a proactive style alone.
“We need to force our opponents to make mistakes and not just wait for it to happen.
“Even if we can’t win all the games, what’s important is to fight until the end and make the Malaysian fans proud, to make the team play good football,” he added. – The Vibes, May 17, 2022
