The Malaysia Experiment - Newgens Are Here!

"You can't win anything with kids." - Alan Hansen

The long-awaited day is finally here! I'm slowly receiving scouting reports with newgens and it's been good so far. At least, not an oversupply of strikers like the past 2 years. This time it addresses certain issues that Harimau Malaya is currently lacking. I'll share three of my picks since I called them up for the upcoming matches against Macau (188th) and Singapore (121st).

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First of all, a goalkeeper. Saddam El-Hafedz Shahri (24 years old) has been around from the start of this save and has been my first choice ever since. What I was lacking was a clear second. Of course, Yusof Hashim (17 years old) has been giving it a shout recently, as well as Sree Ghanisheelan (17 years old), but it was still very much up for grabs. Now I've got one more to choose from - Yeo Kok Luen (16 years old). He has already appeared two times for his club (Kelantan), keeping a clean sheet while winning the man of the match award in the process.

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Another area that needed some boosting was the right side of our defense. Matthew Davies (24 years old) has been our staple in that department but I would still consider him as the weak link as he's only 2 stars when compared to our other national players. Behind him, there's Raihan Che Mat (19 years old) and Muhd Azrul Jaffri (20 years old), but they're weaker still. The FM gods must be smiling down over me as I've finally found a right-back of decent quality (2.5 stars) - Iskandar Baseri from UKM.

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Another department that was lacking a clear second choice was the left winger. Luqman Hussain (18 years old)has been running up and down the left flank for us but I still recall during the Asian Nations Cup tournament, I really had trouble subbing him out when he was tired due to lack of left attacking midfielders. We were pretty much overloaded on the right side. I hope Muhd Ikhwan Hashim (16 years old) comes good for us. :)

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I got the squad together on Tuesday and we flew to Macau (China PR) to prepare for the FIFA World Cup qualifying match. Some of the players didn't join us as they still had club duty. Hafiz Azman (AMC) was one of them and unfortunately, he sprained his ankle ligaments during the match between PKNP and UKM. The injury would be ruling him out for 4 weeks! :/ I took the opportunity to call up Zainudin Aziz (17 years old) from Terengganu but he couldn't make it in time for the match at Macau, so we'll be meeting him at Singapore. Hopefully, he'll get a chance to pull on his jersey and play for us :)

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I would say Macau is the whipping boys for our group. So far they've played 2 matches and lost both of them; 0-1 to Lebanon and 0-4 toSingapore. I took the opportunity to give debuts to the 16-year-olds and see if they can stake a claim for a regular spot on the team.

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To be honest, I was expecting a bashing. Goals galore. From the start to the end. Seems like it was not meant to be. Lee Jinxiang (AMR) has been running up and down the right flank, but none of it has resulted into a goal threat. It was only until the 36th minute when his cross finally reaches an open Hisham. He aims for the far post and scores on his debut! 1-0 and the staff team breathed a sigh of relief.

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Muhaimin Jamaludin (18 years old) has been terrible and I'm considering an early substitution, perhaps bring in Jasni Abidin (18 years old). Hisham also got a knock so I might need to call on Hussain to bring some game on the left side of the field. So far it has been just Jinxiang doing all the work.

By the time the referee blew the whistle for the game, I've been having a hard time keeping myself awake. Boring, dull, 1-0 win just isn't my cup of tea. We really got to up our game because this just doesn't cut it when we're meeting Singapore in a few days.

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So far, so good. Singapore has been unbeaten so far as well, drawing against Iraq (92nd) and
Lebanon (116th). Seems like we're in for a tough match down south.

If you enjoyed this entry, do check out my previous posts
from where it all started, right up to now.