JOHOR BARU: The combination of Brazilian-born players Paulo Josue and Endrick Dos Santos is expected to give a touch of samba flair to the national squad when they face Turkmenistan at the Sultan Ismail Stadium on Thursday.
Josue said he is looking forward to linking up with Dos Santos in midfield but will leave it to head coach Kim Pan Gon to decide.
The match will be the first of two tier-one international friendlies Harimau Malaya will play over the next week. They will face Hong Kong on March 28, also at Stadium Sultan Ismail.
"Of course I am looking forward to playing with Endrick, he is a good player. We have shared the field in the M-League over the last five years but we have never played together in the same team," said Josue today.
"It is easy for us to understand each other's playing styles and we can obviously communicate well so there is no issue there.
"I like how he plays and hopefully our combination can help the team perform better."
The Kuala Lumpur City captain added that he is looking forward to donning national colours for the first time as a naturalised player.
"There is not much I can do to repay coach Pan Gon except to give it my all if I am selected to play. These two matches are important for Harimau Malaya," said Josue.
"I am in the process of understanding the system implemented by the coach. He wants us to play a high pressing game and utilise the agility we have on the flanks through players such as Arif Aiman Hanapi, Faisal Halim and Akhyar Rashid."
Josue is expecting a tough match against Turkmenistan and does not think much can be drawn from past encounters with them.
"They have changed coaches so their playing style will definitely be different. We will wait and see what new information the coach (Pan Gon) has on them," said Josue.
"We just have to focus on preparing as best as possible and perform at a high level on the pitch."