Hodak deprived of six national sport schools students

THE SPM examination has prevented national Under-19 coach Bojan Hodak from calling up players from two national sport schools for the AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers in Paju, South Korea next week.

The education ministry did not give its approval to release six players Hodak had wanted in his team from the Pahang National Sports School and Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School.

That meant Hodak retained 20 players from the side that reached the AFF Under-19 Championship final in Yangon last month while adding three new faces.

Hodak said he is satisfied with the squad he has named for the Oct 31-Nov 8 Group F qualifiers against Timor Leste, Brunei, Indonesia and South Korea.

“I did not want to make too many changes and added just three new faces because this squad of players have been together for some time now,” said Hodak yesterday.

“It is easy to work with these boys because they listen to instructions. There is a better understanding between the players after playing some tough friendly matches against Super League and Premier League teams.”

Hodak added Zhafir Yusoff of Kedah’s President’s Cup team, Penang President’s Cup midfielder K. Thivandaran and Al Imran Abdul Halim of Universiti Teknologi Mara to the squad.

Among those with senior team experience are Kedah forward Akhyar Rashid, Johor Darul Ta’zim II midfielder Hadi Fayyadh Razak and Perlis winger Zafuen Azeman.

Several players from Gambang-based PNSS, who were runners-up to Kedah in the Under-19 Youth Cup this year, were also under consideration.

“Six players from two sports schools were under consideration and three of them showed potential and even trained with my squad,” said Hodak.

“But because of the exams they were not released and there was nothing we could do about it.”

Malaysia open their qualifying campaign against Timor Leste on Tuesday and need to finish among the top two to have a chance of qualifying for the finals in Indonesia next year.