KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Harimau Malaya skipper Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak has told his players to tighten their game and be fully prepared for a crucial match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 3.
After being thrashed 4-1 by Kuwait in a warm-up match in Dubai on Sunday, the midfielder said all players should use the next one week to rectify their weaknesses before playing their remaining matches in the World Cup 2022/Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers.
Despite the national squad being out of competitive football for 18 months since November 2019, the 33-year-old player said he could see some positive developments since joining centralised training camp on May 16.
“After one week of training together, I could see many changes and positive elements in the squad,” he said in a video shared by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
“I hope that in our training in the coming days we will be more focused and committed as a team, as well as be fully prepared for the match against UAE,” said Aidil in Dubai, before leaving for Manama, Bahrain.
In Manama, Tan Cheng Hoe’s squad will continue training before playing a Tier 1 international match against world number 99th ranked Bahrain at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa on Friday.
The Malaysians, ranked 153rd in the world, will then fly back to Dubai for their remaining three matches in the Group G second round qualifiers against UAE (June 3), Vietnam (June 11) and Thailand (June 15).
The last time Harimau Malaya played in a competition was when they defeated Indonesia 2-0 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on November 19, 2019 in their qualifying campaign, before the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc to competition schedules.
During that period, the national team only managed to undergo centralised training for seven days in Johor Baru last March. — Bernama
