New Sabah Times
By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: Tambadau duo – Ariusdius Jais and Evan Wensley Wenceslaus – are among the 27 players that have been named in the national U-22 provisional squad for the 2020 AFC Under-23 qualifying tournament.
Ariusdius and Evan, who have yet to feature for the Tambadau this season, will report for the national camp this Sunday.
They were among the 21 players that have been retained from the national U-22 squad that competed at the recent AFF U-22 Championship in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last month.
National U-22 head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee dropped two players from his previous squad with Nabil Hakim Bokhari (Kuala Lumpur), and Danish Haziq Saipul Hisham (Negeri Sembilan).
To complete his 27-member training squad, Kim Swee called six new faces, including four from the national senior side under Tan Cheng Hoe at last year’s AFF Suzuki Cup namely Syamer Kutty Abba, Akhyar Abdul Rashid, Safawi Rasid and Syahmi Safari.
The other two new faces are Danial Amir Norhisham and Faisal Abdul Halim.
The squad will undergo a seven-day centralised training at the Sime Darby training field in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam.
Then they will take on the Australia U-22 side in an international friendly at the Shah Alam Stadium on March 17 before Kim Swee names his 23-member final squad that will spearhead Malaysia’s campaign in the Group J challenge where they have the likes of Philippines, Laos and China for company.
They will open their campaign against the Philippines on March 22, followed by a date with Laos (March 24) before concluding their challenge against China on March 26.
All matches will be played at the Shah Alam Stadium. Kick off time is 8.45pm.
For the record, only the group winners from the 11-group competition will automatically qualify for the final round of the championship together with hosts Thailand and four best second-place teams.
Malaysia, under Kim Swee, made their first-ever appearance in the final round of the competition in 2018 where it was hosted by China.
Then, the national squad put up a brave front and managed to enter the quarter-finals before bowing out 2-1 to South Korea.
