16 players retained for centralised training

Kuala Lumpur: National squad head coach Nelo Vingada is retaining most of his players for two 2019 Asian Cup Qualifying matches against North Korea at I-Mobile Stadium in Buriram, Thailand next week.The coach from Portugal is keeping 16 players from the squad who lost 0-2 to Hong Kong on Oct 10 in the list of 24 players for centralised camp.

The eight players dropped are Ifwat Akmal Chek Kassim, Khairul Helmi Johari, Akram Mahinan, Mohd Fitri Omar and Mohd Syazwan Zainon of Kedah, Amirulhadi Zainal (Johor Darul Tazim) as well as Matthew Davies (Pahang) and Shahrel Fikri Md Fauzi (PKNP FC) who is injured.

Vingada who is also Harimau Malaya manager has replaced them with Under-22 squad striker, Syafiq Ahmad (Kedah) and seven JDT players, namely Izham Tarmizi Roslan, Fadhli Shas, Fazly Mazlan, Junior Eldstal, Afiq Fazail, S. Kunanlan and Azrif Nasrulhaq Badrul Hisham.

For centralised camp, 10 players from Perak, Pahang, Selangor, Felda United and Penang will report for duty on Saturday at Wisma FAM while another 14 players from JDT and Kedah will join them on Monday as they are involved in the 2017 Malaysia Cup final at Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday.

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Harimau Malaya will be leaving for Buriram via Bangkok on Tuesday for two matches against North Korea with the East Asian country hosting on Nov 10 while Malaysia will host on Nov 13.

Last month, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) agreed the matches would be played at a neutral venue after the earlier matches were postponed following political tension over the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 on February 13.

With three more matches left, Malaysia are at the bottom of Group B with only one point after a draw with Hong Kong and losing to Hong Kong in the return match as well as to Lebanon at home.

Lebanon are at the top of the table with 10 points after four matches followed by Hong Kong (five points) and North Korea (two points).

List of 24 players:

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Safiq Rahim, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri, Darren Lok, Nazmi Faiz Mansor, Safawi Rasid, Fadhli Shas, Fazly Mazlan, Izham Tarmizi Roslan, Junior Eldstal, Afiq Fazail, S. Kunanlan and Azrif Nasrulhaq Badrul Hisham of JDT.

Hafizul Hakim Khairul Nizam Jothy, Shahrom Abdul Kalam, Nazirul Naim Che Hashim, Amirul Azhan Aznan (Perak), Baddrol Bakhtiar, Syafiq Ahmad (Kedah), Kiko Insa, Nor Azam Abdul Azih (Pahang), Khairulazhan Khalid, Adam Nor Azlin (Selangor), Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor (Felda United) and Syamer Kutty Abba (Penang). – Bernama

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