FAM Grant Dollah's Wish To Have More Time With Players

15 April, 2015



PETALING JAYA: Sometimes, wishes do come true.

National coach Dollah Salleh’s request for a longer training period for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers has been granted by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

Malaysia are in Group A with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Timor-Leste in the second round, which will be held from June 11 to March 29, 2016.

The M-League fixtures will be adjusted and the prolonged training period is also expected to affect teams still in the AFC Cup round of 16 and the FA Cup final.

The first phase of the national team’s training will be from May 17-June 17. During this time, they will play a friendly against Tottenham Hotspur (on May 27) as well as two World Cup qualifiers – against Timor-Leste (June 11) and Palestine (June 16).

Dollah will have to omit players from Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) and Pahang, who will be involved in the AFC Cup round of 16, which will be held on May 26 or 27 as it clashes with the Spurs friendly.

The second phase of the national training will be from July 14-23, followed by a friendly against Liverpool on July 24. The third phase of training is from Aug 23-Sept 19 for the matches against UAE at home and Saudi Arabia away.

FAM secretary-general Hamidin Mohd Amin admitted that while Dollah will get more time to prepare his team, “there will be some compromises made by the M-League teams”.

“We had a meeting with the competitions committee and this is the best we could do for both the national team and the M-League,” said Hamidin on Wednesday.

“We’re giving Dollah more than 10 days to prepare the national team despite the tight M-League fixtures ... now he’ll have more time.

“National players with Pahang and JDT and the teams in the FA Cup final will be allowed to report later for national training due to their commitment with their states and clubs.”

Hamidin said that the M-League teams will receive a circular on the changes to the fixtures soon.

“The league started late this year (in February) and that has made the fixtures congested ... August and July will be hectic in the M-League but this is the best solution we can offer,” he said.

Sumber - K. Rajan, Star Online www.thestar.com.my