POOL OF PLAYERS, MAKE UP FOR LOSS OF EXPERIENCE

PLAYING TIME BY PLAYERS COMPENSATES LOSS OF EXPERIENCE

National hockey coach A. Arul Selvaraj is counting on playing time acquired by players in the squad to make up for the loss of experience of players who failed to make the squad owing to injuries.

This morning in Ipoh, Arul named his squad of 18 players for the 29^th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2022 tournament starting on Tuesday where he had dropped three players from the squad of 21 he had.

The four dropped after careful evaluation of the players current status based on performance are goalkeeper Adrian Albert, defender Syarman Mat, Muhajir Abdu and striker Mohamad Rosli.

Arul in his 18 squad has two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and six strikers.

Two players who had just returned from injury -defender Faiz Helmi (ankle) and forward Syafiq Sumantri (adductor) survived the cut as Arul saw them fit to be in the team.

“Although they were injured they continued to train with the team in other aspects like gym work, rehabilitation programme and fitness and strenghth,” said Arul.

Earlier key players captain Marhan Jalil and Shahril Saaban were also ruled out because injuries.

“All the injured players are in Ipoh undergoing treatment and recovery training, as they are part of the squad with the hope that they will be available for upcoming tournaments - Nations Cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa, from Nov 28-Dec 4, the World Cup in January and Asian Games in Hangzhou in September,” added Arul.

Arul also named the team captain as Muhammad Najmi Farizal Jazlan.

Najmi however had to returned to his home in Perlis early this morning after getting news that his father-in-law had passed away.

But he will be back tonight (last night) or tomorrow (today). The team has an off day tomorrow (Sunday).

“When we got news that Najmi’s father-in-law passed away, we told him to return to Perlis to make the necessary arrangements and be with his wife. It is best he went because otherwise he will not have peace of mind and his family too might be happy with him,” said team manager Datuk Mirawan Nawawi.

“Now when he returns and find out that he has been named captain, I am sure will be highly motivated,” he added.

Arul added that Najmi was the right choice in the absence of Marhan, as he is a good leader, a motivator and understands the game well.

There was strong speculation that the most capped and senior player, defender Razie Rahim, would be named captain.

“Razie is indeed a strong leader and whether he is captain or not, he plays a key role in leading the team and will partner with Najmi to do well together from the back,” added Arul.

“Besides, we have eight players in the team who have strong leadership qualities and each one of them will be playing their role as leaders as we play as a unit.”

 

THE SQUAD OF 18

NO	NAMA	POSISI	NO JERSI
1	MUHAMMAD HAFIZUDDIN OTHMAN	PENJAGA GOL	21
2	MOHD ZAIMI MAT DERIS	PENJAGA GOL	16
3	MUHAMMAD RAZIE ABD RAHIM	PERTAHANAN	17
4	MUHAMMAD NAJMI FARIZAL JAZLAN	PERTAHANAN	25
5	MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ HASSAN	PERTAHANAN	27
6	ZULPIDAUS MIZUN	PERTAHANAN	28
7	MUHAMMAD AMINUDDIN MOHD ZAIN	PERTAHANAN	12
8	MUHAMMAD FIRHAN ASHAARI	TENGAH	13
9	FAIZ HELMI JALI	TENGAH	18
10	MEOR MUHAMMAD AZUAN HASSAN	TENGAH	20
11	NIK MUHAMMAD AIMAN NIK ROZEMI	TENGAH	24
12	MUHAMMAD AMIRUL HAMIZAN AZAHAR	TENGAH	29
13	MUHAMMAD NAJIB ABU HASSAN	PENYERANG	2
14	NORSYAFIQ SUMANTRI	PENYERANG	3
15	MOHAMAD ASHRAN HAMSANI	PENYERANG	8
16	TENGKU NASRUL IKMAL TENGKU ABD RAHIM	PENYERANG	14
17	SHELLO SILVERIUS	PENYERANG	15
18	MUHAMMAD AZRAI AIZAD ABU KAMAL	PENYERANG	23

MALAYSIA’S FIXTURES

NO	HARI	TARIKH	PERLAWANAN	MASA
1.	SELASA	1 NOV 2022	MALAYSIA LWN KOREA	8:00 MALAM
2.	RABU	2 NOV 2022	PAKISTAN LWN MALAYSIA	8:00 MALAM
3.	JUMAAT	4 NOV 2022	AFRIKA SELATAN LWN MALAYSIA	8:00 MALAM
4.	SABTU	5 NOV 2022	MALAYSIA LWN EGYPT	8:00 MALAM
5.	ISNIN	7 NOV 2022	MALAYSIA LWN JEPUN	8:00 MALAM