KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah FC defender Mohd Rizal Mohd Ghazali(pix) can rest easy now that no disciplinary action will be taken against him for failing to report for duty at the recent national centralised training camp.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar, in a statement today, said the player was let off with a stern warning as a reminder not to repeat his mistake.
“Mohd Rizal was also reminded to check into camp first and state his reasons to the national team manager should he be unavailable to answer future national call-ups,” he said.
Previously, Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan Gon had said that Mohd Rizal rejected the call to join the national team’s centralised training camp as a replacement for Muhammad Syahmi Safari ahead of the FAS Tri-Nations Series in Singapore this month.
Following that, FAM issued Mohd Rizal with a warning letter asking him to honour the national team call-up, otherwise, he would be penalised.
Mohd Rizal, 29, then submitted a show-cause letter to FAM saying he had family matters to attend to.
Mohd Saifuddin was previously quoted as saying that Mohd Rizal could either be suspended from playing in the domestic league as well as fined RM25,000 as punishment for rejecting the national team call-up during the FIFA international window period.-Bernama