Please release them
Football team to pull out of Asiad if minimum number of players not met
Malaysia Under-23 football team coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee (pic) may have to withdraw his team from the Indonesia Asian Games if he can’t assemble a minimum 18-player squad. Some M-League sides are reluctant to release their players as the Asian Games football competition from Aug 14-Sept 2 coincides with the Malaysia Cup competition. “I hope all the M-League teams will cooperate with us and I’ve said it before that national interest should come first.”
KUALA LUMPUR: National Under23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee has not ruled out the possibility of Malaysia withdrawing from the Indonesia Asian Games if he can’t assemble a minimum 18-player squad.
It is learnt that certain M-League sides are reluctant to release their players as the Asian Games football competition from Aug 14-Sept 1 coincides with the Malaysia Cup competition which kicks off in August.
Last year, Kim Swee had to drop six players from the 26 called up for centralised training after their clubs refused to release them for the 2018 AFC Under-23 qualifying campaign in Bangkok.
“I have listed 24 players for the Asian Games and six more are on the standby list, only these 30 players are available for selection. According to the competition rule, we need to bring a minimum of 18 players, if not we have to pull out from the competition,” said Kim Swee in a press conference here yesterday.
“I hope all the M-League teams will cooperate with us and I’ve said it before that national interest should come first.
“I understand that the Asian Games will clash with the Malaysia Cup ... but only a few matches will be affected and the teams will only miss a few players. I believe these teams can still deliver good football in the Malaysia Cup.”
Kim Swee said he will not change his plans for the friendly against the China Under-23 team in Changzhou on Aug 5 even if they were drawn in the same group in the Asian Games but their friendly against Saudi Arabia on Aug 9 may be scrapped.
Malaysia were drawn with defending champions South Korea, Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain in Group E on July 5 but now there is a snag as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will have a re-draw and the new date will be announced soon.
The earlier draw had been scrapped because the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Palestine were omitted from the draw and India had made a last-minute request to be included.
“The friendly against China will continue no matter what the circumstances, due to the factors involved but for the Saudi match we will cancel it if we get drawn in the same group,” said Kim Swee.
Meanwhile, Football Association of Malaysia president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said he planned to allow naturalised players to represent the country in the future.
He believes that naturalised players can bring a positive impact to the national team’s performance but the plan is still in the early stages.
“This needs to be tabled at the national team committee and it needs to be studied because I see that it needs commitment from the government,” said Hamidin.
“We also need to discuss with many parties, including the government and the Malaysia Football League (MFL). Based on my experience, I see this move as a way to propel our football forward,” he said.