Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: More than 20 out of about 100 players made it to the second phase of the Harimau Muda B selection trial held here at the Likas Sports Complex on Thursday.
The shortlisted players will have the final chance to impress the selection panel today (Friday) to book a place for the final selection trial to make it to the 2013 national junior squad on Oct 28.
The trial here was the second leg to be held in Sabah after Tawau which was held two days ago.
The trials was conducted by the squad's head coach Ismail Ibrahim and assisted by it's goalkeeper coach Mazlan Wahid as well as local coaches Justin Ganai, Matasan Ahmad and Jasrih Jabirin.
Ismail told Express Sports that they are basically looking for a player with the right physique and possesses good skills.
"Aggressiveness is another important area as well as the players' movement and understanding of the game," he added.
He said that they are constantly looking for new blood as there is need to fill up the space left vacant by those promoted to the senior sides.
He said they are targeting about 50 odd players from all around the country for the final selection trial to be held in Bukit Jalil Stadium.
"Sabah is our second last stop before Johor and we hope to rope in at least 4-5 players from each state.
Unfortunately so far we failed to identify any from the trip in Tawau."
"From the number of players that impressed us during the early trials we will assess them again during the final trial before we cut the number down to about 25 players."
He said the players who made the final squad would get to travel to Turkey on November 3 for a one month training stint.
