MELAKA, March 1 — The national football squad will continue with centralised training for 10 days as scheduled beginning March 20 although the remaining fixtures for the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers have been postponed to June.

Harimau Malaya team manager, Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi said the postponement of the Group G second-round qualifiers would enable the national quad to prepare better and form a more formidable lineup.

He said that it would also be the best opportunity for national head coach, Tan Cheng Hoe after a year of being unable to bring the players together for centralised training following the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“He will definitely use this opportunity to evaluate the 23 players who will be called up to the squad after having rested and not played a competitive match for so long, and have yet to work together as a team.

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“And with the Super League starting March 5, the players will certainly be at their best, in terms of performance,” he told reporters after officiating at the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) Train for Trainers course in Banda Hilir, here, today.

FAM technical director Datuk Ong Kim Swee was also present.

FIFA, the world football governing body and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had earlier announced the postponement of the remaining 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup Group G qualifiers that were supposed to take place in March.

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In addition, Mohd Yusoff, who is also FAM deputy president, said they had no intention to host the qualifiers, which would be held in a carnival format in June.

He cited the significant number of Covid-19 cases in the country, as well as several main criteria set by the AFC as reasons behind FAM’s decision to not offer themselves as hosts.

“We have ruled out any intention to be involved in the bidding of venues because we may not be able to meet the required security and standard operating procedures (SOP),” he said.

According to the initial schedule, Malaysia will take on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai on March 25 before visiting Vietnam on March 30 and wrapping up the qualifiers against Thailand in June.

After five matches, Malaysia are in second place with nine points, behind group leaders Vietnam, with 11 points, Thailand in third place with eight points, the UAE (six points) with a game in hand, and Indonesia at the bottom, having yet to secure a single point. — Bernama