Malaysia ready to against Man Utd

NATIONAL coach K. Rajagobal (pic) broke with the past in calling up 15 uncapped players for next Saturday’s friendly against Manchester United but it also points the way forward for a national team long the butt of jokes. With the national Under-23 team tasked with salvaging Malaysian football’s pride at the Laos Sea Games in December, Rajagobal opted to look to the future when naming his national squad.

The match against the English Premier League champions could well turn into a lopsided affair, but it is one which the former Selangor and national striker believes will become a good learning experience for the national players.

“The boys will be psyched to play United and you can be sure they will be going all out to impress. After all, how many chances will they get to play against a team like that,” said Rajagobal after a recent training session at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya.

Rajagobal has kept faith with only three seniors from the side who lost 5-0 to the United Arab Emirates in an Asian Cup qualifier in January, which proved to be the undoing of his predecessor B. Sathianathan.

Defender Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, the most experienced in the current 28-strong squad with 57 caps, Kelantan’s Indra Putra Mahayuddin (47) and right-back V. Thirumurugan (14) are joined by Selangor captain Amri Yahya in leading the young national team against Zimbabwe (tomorrow and Tuesday), United (July 18) and Indonesia (Aug 5 and 8).