KUALA LUMPUR: There are more than enough local-born footballers of sufficient quality to play for the national team amidst the flood of naturalised players into Malaysia.
With as many as 14 naturalised players available for selection, national coach Tan Cheng Hoe retains faith in the ability of local-born players to make up the bulk of his squad for international matches against Mongolia and Lebanon next month.
Of the 14 foreign-born players granted Malaysian citizenship, only Matthew Davies, Brendan Gan, Khair Jones, Kiko Insa and Darren Lok have played for the national team.
Cheng Hoe is considering calling up JDT duo Natxo Insa and left-back La'Vere Corbin-Ong, who is the latest foreign-born player to become a Malaysian, for a friendly against Mongolia on March 22 and an Asian Cup qualifier away to Lebanon five days later.
But Cheng Hoe said to call up all 14 naturalised players would not be realistic given that Malaysian-born players are more than good enough in terms of ability.
"It's a good idea to bring the naturalised players into the team but to have a first XI consisting of foreign-born players only is not realistic," said Cheng Hoe, promoted from national assistant coach in December after Nelo Vingada quit.
"I don't deny the naturalised players have quality but if the local players are just as good, then I cannot ignore them either. The best solution is a mix of local and naturalised players."
At the end of the day, Cheng Hoe said, selection depends on the performances of players for their clubs.
"There are still a few weeks left before the first call-up and players who perform in the league will earn the right to play for the national team," said Cheng Hoe, who is also keen to give an opportunity to players who impressed at the AFC Under-23 Championship in China last month.
One factor that may be of a disadvantage to the naturalised players is their lack of experience in playing international football with Pahang right-back Davies having the most caps (14).
In contrast, JDT trio Safiq Rahim, S. Kunanlan and Aidil Zafuan Radzak have each made 77 appearances for Malaysia and were part of the national side which won the 2010 AFF Cup.
But Cheng Hoe pointed out that players like the Spain-born Insa brothers, Kiko and Natxo have a lot experience playing in Europe while Corbin-Ong has turned out for teams in the German and Dutch second-tier for five years.
"The naturalised players may not have played much international football but they have valuable experience of playing in Europe and the countries where they come from," said Cheng Hoe.
"This will be a great advantage for the national team should they be called up."