KUALA LUMPUR – Harimau Malaya head coach, Kim Pan-gon is retaining 17 of the players who enabled Malaysia to qualify for the Asia Cup 2023, in facing the Thailand King’s Cup competition from September 22 to 25 in Chiang Mai.
Among the new players called for the competition are aged 21 from the Under-23 national squad, namely, goalkeeper Rahadiazli Rahalim, Azam Azmi Murad and Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi.
The 53-year-old coach has also included Kalamullah Al-Hafiz Mat Rowi (goalkeeper), Sharul Nazeem Zulpakar, Brendan Gan, Zhafri Yahya and Declan Lambert, while 16 have been listed in the waiting list if any of the selected players could not play for some reasons or were injured.
The last time Brendon played with the national team was when they defeated Thailand 1-0 in the qualifying round of the World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 in Dubai in June 2021, before he was confirmed to have cancer.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in a statement yesterday said the Harimau Malaya squad would undergo central training from September 16 to 19 at the Wisma FAM field before leaving for Chiang Mai for the competition.
In the four-cornered competition, Malaysia, which is ranked 148th in the world, had been voted to face Thailand (ranked 111th) on September 22 (Thursday) while Trinidad & Tobago (101st) will meet Tajikistan (109th).
The winners in the two matches will meet in the final on September 25 while the defeated teams will vie for third placing.
Malaysia had lifted the cup four times, in 1972, 1976, 1977 and 1978. – Bernama, September 13, 2022
