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PUTRAJAYA - The national football squad is expected to undergo centralised training from January 15 to January 26, 2021, in preparation for the last three Group G second round 2022 World Cup/ 2023 Asia Cup qualifiers that will resume in March next year.
The FA of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam said national coach Tan Cheng Hoe is expected to list 30 players for the training session, which will be held at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, as he searches for the perfect combination of experienced players and new talent.
He also said that the squad will play 97th ranked Bahrain in a friendly match in Manama in early March, before going to Abu Dhabi to face the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the sixth match of the second-round qualifiers on Mar 25.
“At the training session, Tan will try out several new players and consider their suitability with his plans for the rest of the qualifiers next year,” he said after attending the fourth Malaysia Football League (MFL) partnership meeting here today.
The Harimau Malaya squad was supposed to take on the UAE on October 8, before meeting Vietnam on November 13, followed by a match against Thailand (November 17) in Bangkok.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA, however, had to postpone the remaining matches to March 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic.
After taking on the UAE, the national team is scheduled to host Group G leaders, Vietnam at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Mar 20, before finishing the qualifiers against Thailand on June 15 in Bangkok.
Malaysia is currently second in Group G with nine points after five matches (three wins, two losses).
Meanwhile, UKM FC and Felda United FC are out of next season’s Malaysia League (M-League) competition after their appeals were rejected by FAM.
Stuart explained that the FAM Club Licensing First Instance Body (FIB) decided to reject their appeals after finding that the documents submitted to the governing body showed they did not have the financial standings to survive for one season.
He, however, said both teams could still feature in the M3 League in 2021, although that would be up to the teams’ management.
“This means only 11 teams will feature in next season’s Premier League campaign (including the soon-to-be-formed FAM-NSC Project Squad), and there are no changes in terms of the decision taken against the two teams,” he said.
FAM, had earlier, decided not to allow both teams to compete in the 2021 M-League after failing to meet the requirements for the privatisation of football clubs (FC). – Bernama, December 15, 2020.
