KUALA LUMPUR: After cutting three players from his squad for a tour of South Korea, national youth coach Ong Kim Swee warned that nobody is guaranteed a spot in the team for the AFC Under-23 Championship next month.
Kim Swee wants the remaining 26 players in his training squad to be on their toes during the two-week visit to Mokpo, South Korea, where they will play three matches.
From there, Kim Swee will finalise his 23-man squad to take to Jiangsu, China where they will face Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Group C of the AFC Under-23 Championship.
"The players have to show that they are up to the standard required to play at the AFC tournament," said Kim Swee today after naming the squad he will take to Mokpo.
"They have to get used to playing international matches although we won't actually be playing any international games in Korea. But the games we will play are just as good as playing international matches."
The national Under-23 team will Kuala Lumpur leave early tomorrow for friendly matches against Mokpo City on Wednesday, Jeonju University (Dec 22) and Jeonju Citizen (Dec 28).
One more match against a yet-to-be-determined opponent is scheduled for Jan 5 in Nanjing, China.
Following yesterday’s 0-0 draw with Melaka at the Shah Alam Stadium, Kim Swee dropped goalkeeper Amierul Hakimi Awang and forwards Sean Eugene Selvaraj and Danial Ashraf Abdullah.
"I have quite a few forwards and midfielders in the squad and I will have to cut one defender, one midfielder and one forward after this," said Kim Swee.
"We still have a lot of areas to work on after the Melaka match, there is no one specific part of the team. The friendly matches will help me to improve the weaknesses we have identified."
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Haziq Nadzli, Ifwat Akmal Chek Kassim, Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed;
Defenders: Irfan Zakaria, Adib Zainudin, A. Shivan Pillay, Raphi Azizan Mariappen, Syazwan Zaipol Bahari, Adam Nor Azlin, Dominic Tan;
Midfielders: K. Thivandaran, Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat, Daniel Amier Norhisham, Ahmad Khairil Anuar Zamri, Nor Azam Azih, Syamer Kutty Abba, Syahmi Safari, Tommy Mawat Bada, Syazwan Andik Ishak, Matthew Davies;
Forwards: Jafri Firdaus Chew, N. Thanabalan, Akhyar Rashid, Hadi Fayyadh Razak, M. Kogileswaran Raj, Safawi Rasid.