KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — The National Sports Council is ready to assist the national football squad to hold a quarantine-based centralised training camp to prepare for the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup second round qualifiers in March.
Its director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said the quarantine-based approach will see the squad being placed in an area with strict compliance to the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the National Security Council for full-time centralised training.
“Bascially, we have had early discussions with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretariat and we are prepared to help the FAM if they intend to hold a centralised training camp along with other sports using the quarantine approach.
“So, we welcome the national football squad if they are willing to consider it, because it’s (a) rare (opportunity) where the national squad can train or undergo centralised training together with other sports. We are looking forward to this,” he told Bernama today.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican had earlier confirmed in a statement that the Harimau Malaya squad would be allowed to conduct a quarantine-based centralised training camp at the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil soon.
According to Reezal, the council had suitable facilities for the squad to prepare for the second-round qualifiers in March.
The squad will take on the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi (March 25) and Vietnam at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on March 30.
The national squad’s centralised training camp which was scheduled to begin on January 15, had been cancelled after the Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Labuan) and Selangor were among six states and regions placed under the movement control order (MCO) which began on January 13. — Bernama
