Match against Afghanistan last avenue for new players to impress Kim Swee

The international friendly against Afghanistan at the Shah Alam Stadium on Tuesday will be the last platform for players to impress National head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee.

Kim Swee, who has included five new faces among 30 players to prepare for the AFF Suzuki Cup next month, had pledged to give as many players a chance during the two International friendlies against Singapore and Afghanistan, before deciding on his final list of 25 players.

Once the squad is finalised, Malaysia will play a friendly against Papua New Guinea on Nov 14, here, before Kim Swee trims the squad to 23 players for the AFF Suzuki Cup from Nov 19 to Dec 17.

"I have to build new combinations, give players chance to impress me and make sure they know what I want from them as a team. Therefore, this will be their final opportunity to prove themselves," he told reporters during a press conference at Wisma FAM, here Monday.

The five new faces included by Kim Swee are Mohd Syazwan Zainon, Mohd Rizal Mohd Ghazali (Kedah), Mohd Fazrul Hazli Mohd Kadri (Perak), Muhammad Hadin Azman (Felda United) and Ahmad Khuzaimi Pee (Melaka).

In the last three friendly matches, Malaysia, currently ranked 158th in the FIFA ranking list, drew 0-0 against Singapore on Oct 8, lost 0-3 to Indonesia on Sept 6 and drew 1-1 against Fiji on June 26 while Afghanistan lost 0-2 to Lebanon (Sept 5), beat Singapore 2-1 on March 29 and lost 0-5 to Japan on March 24. -- Bernama