Skip to main content

Kim Swee admits strikers headache

NATIONAL Olympic coach Ong Kim Swee reckons he will have too many strikers to choose from for next year’s assignments.

Ahmad Hazwan
Ahmad Hazwan (left) was the most impressive in Australia.

NATIONAL Olympic coach Ong Kim Swee reckons he will have too many strikers to choose from for next year’s assignments.

And the former international says that is just how he wants it.

In fact, the newcomers have  put the pressure on the regulars after the successes over the past year.
There are several on form strikers in contention and Kim Swee admits it will be hard selecting the best for tournaments.

The Malacca-born said: “I’ve got a lot of players. It will be tough for me to choose the best but it is better to have this problem than no players,” he said.

Among his options are Ahmad Hazwan Bakri, Ahmad Fakri Saraani, A. Thamil Arasu, Syahrul Azwari and the injured Izzaq Faris Ramlan.

Ahmad Hazwan and Ahmad Fakri made headlines in the team’s recent tour in Australia, where both were impressive against top A-League sides.

An injury-prone Ahmad Hazwan, who missed last month’s Indonesia Sea Games, scored four goals for Kim Swee’s side from three friendly matches in Australia.

As for Ahmad Fakri, the 22-year-old made an impact in the team’s 4-1 win over A-League side Central Coast Mariners.

“They can improve because they are young and can get more experience by playing more important games.
“We have a good team and I believe we will have a good season ahead. But experience is really important on the pitch. You need experience. There is a good spirit with the young players and we’ve had good victories.
“We have something new and it is very interesting,” said Kim Swee, who helped the national Under-23 team retained their Sea Games title in Jakarta last month.

On the form of his strikers, Kim Swee said Ahmad Hazwan was the most impressive in Australia.
“He has the qualities to become a good striker as well as Ahmad Fakri and Thamil Arasu. However, they need to play regular high quality football to improve,” he added. By Ajitpal Singh

Read more: NST

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uber Cub: Malaysian squad Can Spring A Surprise - Ahmad Shabery

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek remains confident that the national Uber Cup squad can spring a surprise when Malaysia hosts the Thomas and Uber Cup finals at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 9-16. He said despite not being the favourite, the women's team was able to surprise everyone by winning the gold medal at the Laos SEA Games. "I am confident they (Uber Cup team) will be able to produce a similar surprise. Not only are they capable of reaching the semi-final, they can go further," he told reporters after having lunch with national shuttlers here Thursday. National badminton Team manager Datuk Syed Abu Bakar Abdullah who echoed the minister's confidence said: "In Laos, nobody expected the women's team to win the world, so why not the Uber Cup? All they need to do is try their very best." Women's team captain Wong Pei Tty said she and her team-mates have set a target of r...
1 comment
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
12 comments
Read more