SIX members of the national Under-18 squad have been selected by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) to train in Japan.
Luqman Hakim Shamsudin, Firdaus Kaironnisam, Harith Haiqal Adam Afkat and Ali Imran Sukari will be based at J1 League side Cerezo Osaka from tomorrow until Sept 13.
The 17-year-old Luqman, who scored four goals in the AFF Under-18 Championship in Vietnam last month, will return to the Land of the Rising Sun next month with Sikh Izhan Nazrel Sikh Azman and Ahmad Zikri Khalili for stints with the Japan FA academy and FC Tokyo.
These players, who are members of the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (MDA), were selected based on their performances of late.
“It is an opportunity for the players to experience Japan’s style of training. This will be useful should they get an opportunity to play in the J-league one day,” said FAM general-secretary Stuart Ramalingam.
Meanwhile, the national Under-16 trainees reported to coach P. Maniam in Bukit Jalil yesterday to prepare for the AFC Championship qualifiers in Vientiane on Sept 18-22.
Malaysia must top Group J, also comprising hosts Laos, Japan and Cambodia, to qualify for next year’s tournament proper.
Syafiq Haikal Bahtiar, a product of the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School, is one of the 30 trainees called up by Maniam. The 15-year-old was instrumental in helping Selangor win the MSSM competition in Kelantan last month.
“The majority of players are from MDA. Syafiq earned a last-minute call-up as I was impressed with his performance in the recent Sultan of Selangor’s Cup.
“I will see how he copes when we play Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) on Wednesday,” said Maniam who guided his team to victory in the AFF Championship in Thailand last month.
“The players are motivated after winning the AFF tournament. However, I have called up new players as I hope to scout reliable options ahead of the AFC tournament.”
On whether he will use the 4-3-3 formation recommended under FAM’s Malaysian football DNA, Maniam said: “Yes, we do play 4-3-3 which emphasises on build-up play but sometimes we make changes during matches to suit our strategy.”
After BJSS, Maniam’s side will take on Mongolia on Friday.