Skip to main content

Kim Swee must make do with depleted squad

YOUNG Tigers A will attempt to return to winning ways in the S-League without several key players due to national call-up and injuries when they meet Hougang United at the Yishun Stadium today.

Coach Ong Kim Swee's squad have been reduced to the bare bones with only 16 fit players to choose from as the squad's depth will be tested like never before.

With defenders Mahali Jasuli and Fadhli Shas training with the senior national team ahead of tomorrow's international friendly against Sri Lanka and Amer Saidin injured, Kim Swee is forced to field a makeshift side against mid-table Hougang.

Syazwan Tajuddin and Shahrul Saad will be paired off for the first time in central defence with Affize Faisal Mamat and Nazirul Naim Che Hashim filling in at fullback.

The midfield and forward line too will feature changes as winger Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor and striker Ahmad Hazwan Bakri are on national duty while the likes of Gary Steven Robbat, Irfan Fazail, Fandi Othman, Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria and Amirzafran Nadris are on the crocked list.

Add to that long-term absentees of Izzaq Faris Ramlan, V. Kavichelvan and Syahid Zaidon, it is no wonder that Kim Swee is being hopeful rather than optimistic of the team's prospects against Hougang.

"Whenever we have players missing either to national team duty or to injuries, it creates opportunities for others to play. We still hope to field our best tomorrow (today) but the players must use this chance as a base to prepare for the AFC Under-22 Championship qualifying," said Kim Swee before leaving for Singapore yesterday.

Kim Swee was referring to bit-part players Izuan Solahuddin and Ferris Danial Mat Nasir, who should relish the rare opportunity of featuring in the first eleven.

"With a lot of players injured, the others will have to work extra hard. The absence of key players will allow me to test others like Izuan and Danial. Syazwan and Shahrul have not played much either and this is the first time they will be playing together as a pair," added Kim Swee.

In a congested table in which the top-six are only separated by five points, last week's 2-0 defeat by leaders Balestier Khalsa was only the second for Tigers in nine matches which left them in fifth spot on 17 points, only four off the top with a game in hand. By Devinder Singh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...
11 comments
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