Full house, at last

Kim Swee happy to have all 26 players, but laments short preparation time

SHAH ALAM: “I finally have a team!”

National Under-23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee was clearly a happy man when 19 out of the 26 players initially called up for training, to prepare for the 2018 AFC Under-23 qualifiers in Bangkok from July 19-23, reported for duty at the Shah Alam Stadium yesterday.

The six who did not report for duty were Sapawi Rashid, Muhd Haziq Nadzli (Johor Darul Ta’zim); Mathew Davies, Mohd Nor Azam Azih (Pahang); S. Kumahraan, Syameer Kutty Abba (Penang). T-Team’s Arif Fadzillah was dropped because of injury.

This forced Kim Swee to call up seven new faces – goalkeepers Faridzuean Kamaruddin (Sime Darby) and Ahmad Solehin Mamat (Kuala Lumpur); Nur Shamie Izsuan Amin (Sarawak), Muhd Akhyar Abdul Rashid (Kedah) and three players from Negri Sembilan – Sean Eugene Selvaraj, L. Kalaiharasan and Fauzan Fauzi.

All seven newcomers checked in yesterday to make up the 26-man training squad. This was in total contrast to last week. Last Wednesday, only six out of the 26 players called up checked in for centralised training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya.

The teams were reluctant to release their players due to their commitments in the domestic competitions – the M-League and Malaysia Cup.

The next day, the situation got even worse. Four players were released to join their teams for domestic duties and Kim Swee was left with just two injured players.

But yesterday Kim Swee wore a broad smile on his face. And that told the whole story.

Though happy to see the players reporting for duty, Kim Swee was clearly disappointed with the short time he has to prepare a decent team for the Bangkok challenge.

“This is not what I wanted,” he said after putting his men through their paces ahead of a friendly against their counterparts from Myanmar at the Shah Alam Stadium today (8.45pm).

Asked whether the teams would want their players back for the M-League fixtures tomorrow and on Saturday, he replied: “I hope not.”

Malaysia have been drawn in Group H with Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia for the Bangkok qualifiers.

The final 23-man team will leave for Bangkok on Monday.