PETALING JAYA, Sept 3 — The Harimau Malaysia (national football squad) are prepared to meet a new Indonesian squad in a class A international friendly match at Stadium Manahan, Solo, Indonesia on Tuesday.
National chief coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said despite the Indonesian squad being made of mostly young players he was confident his boys could give the Garudas a run for their money as both teams have similar styles.
Prior to this, Fifa had suspended the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) from any football activities following the interference of the Indonesian government in the republic’s domestic league.
“From the list of Indonesian players I obtained, four or five of them had played at the AFF Suzuki Cup while the rest are young players.
“I believe Indonesia have also carried out the same transition as we did with young players, and there is not much difference from our squad as they have been under coach Alfred Riedl for quite a while,” he said.
He was met by reporters before the national squad’s training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here today.
In this regard, Kim Swee said the first eleven for the match against Indonesia would only be decided after two short training sessions in the country, as he wanted to give opportunities to new faces to prove their capability.
He said two key players, Brendan Gan of Kelantan and Selangor striker, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri have almost recovered from the injuries they picked up. — Bernama
