Ajitpal Singh
K. RAJAGOBAL will face his sternest test as a coach when he leads the national Under-23 squad against Middle Eastern opponents Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
The Under-23 team, who are preparing for December's Laos Sea Games, are down to play two friendly matches against World No 64 Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Sunday and Sept 1, and then against Jordan four days later.
Rajagobal, who was appointed coach in March, has done an impressive job so far in grooming his players for the Sea Games.
Under Rajagopal, the team have gone unbeaten in six international matches, but suffered two defeats to Manchester United (3-2 and 2-0). They beat Singapore 3-0 in their first friendly in March and edged Indonesia 1-0 three months later before recording 4-0 and 1-0 wins over Zimbabwe in July.
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| K. Rajagobal, appointed coach in March, has led the Under-23 team to an unbeaten run in six international matches. |
Rajagobal's boys also held Kenya (0-0) and China (0-0) about two weeks ago. In terms of performance, Rajagobal is happy but the lack of bite from his strikers, led by Zaquan Adha, is giving him sleepless nights.
"My major concern, when I became coach, was whether I could get the players to gel as a unit ahead of the Sea Games. So far they have made progress but several areas need improvement especially the strikeforce," said Rajagobal yesterday.
"The 0-0 results against China and Kenya showed that we can defend well but are toothless up front.
"Saudi Arabia and Jordan are two of Asia's top teams, so I hope my charges will give a good account of themselves against both teams."
Rajagobal added: "End results do not concern me at the moment. I will be satisfied if our players improve their understanding regardless what happens in the Middles East."
The Under-23 team, except for Khyril Muhymeen Zabri and Baddrol Bakhtiar, leave for Riyadh today. Khyril and Baddrol have not recovered from injuries.
Meanwhile, the national senior team jumped seven places to 152nd in the latest world rankings issued by Fifa on Aug 9. Malaysia were ranked 159th out of 202 nations in June. Malaysia's lowest position was 170th last April and their best was 75th in 1993.
The national team also improved their position in the Asian Football Confederation rankings by three spots, moving from 29th to 26th.
However, Malaysia are still ranked fifth among Southeast Asian nations behind Thailand (15th), Singapore (18th), Indonesia (19th) and Myanmar (24th).
The Malaysian senior team, also under Rajagobal, will have an opportunity to improve their ranking in the 2011 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Uzbekistan in November.
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