KUALA LUMPUR – The high-quality pitch at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri is clearly one of the factors that helped Harimau Malaya win both of their recent Tier 1 international friendlies.
Former national striker Safee Sali believes that good pitch conditions such as at the sacred ground of the Super League champions, Johor Darul Ta’zim, can boost the performance of the national squad.
“Of course there are changes in terms of performance, especially the attack and pressing in the front. Compatibility between the players is also getting better, but what is important is the good pitch condition.
“If the pitch is not good, it will be difficult for us to play. Our team is able to go further with the advantage of a quality pitch,” he said when met at an iftar event organised by the Professional Players Association of Malaysia (PFAM) here, yesterday.
Malaysia, guided by South Korean coach Kim Pangon, started the friendly action campaign by overcoming Turkmenistan 1-0 on March 23, before closing the FIFA international matches window with a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong on Tuesday (March 28).
Both matches were played at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.
Meanwhile, Safee believes the quality of local players such as Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid and Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim is comparable to the naturalised players fielded, including Paolo Josue and Endrick Dos Santos in the two friendly matches.
Safee, who is also PFAM president, said that although Akhyar did not play much at the club level, his experience playing with Harimau Malaya, especially with his previous high-intensity playing style, really helped him adapt well with the national team.
In a separate development, PFAM chief executive officer Izham Ismail said the Melaka United FC and Sarawak United FC teams will be tried at the National Dispute Resolution Chambers (NDRC) level on April 6 after failing to pay their players’ salary arrears.
He said Melaka United have salary arrears of more than RM1 million while Sarawak United have less than RM500,000, involving 20 players covered under PFAM from the two clubs.
“We have sent several letters to them, but there has been no space or initiative to solve the problem.
“PFAM has to use the next step, which is the law. We hope there will be a decision from the NDRC hearings next week before taking these cases to court,” he said.
Melaka United and Sarawak United were dropped from the Super League 2023 when the two clubs’ application for national licences were rejected following the problem of salary arrears last season. – Bernama, March 30, 2023
