Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) are determined to make the best out of the AFC U19 Championship that will be played in Uzbekistan in September as they look to qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup for the first time ever.
To realise that lofty ambitions, plans are already in place to ensure that the Malaysia U19 head coach Brad Maloney will get the best resources available for selection and that includes Luqman Hakim and Wan Kuzri Wan Kamal.
Speaking to the media, the team manager of the U19 squad Datuk Kamrul Ariffin assured fans that the preparations for the tournament has been going well and fans can expect Malaysia to field the best youth players that country has.
"Wan Kuzri is in the list of 35 players that will be called up and we are in the final stage of his documentation work. We are working hard to fly him back here from United States to join up with the training that will begin this month.
"He's a player we see that can improve the team and he has also stated his interest, so there's no conflict when it comes to the nationality because youth players have until the age of 21 to choose," said Kamarul.
FAM
The team is expected to convene on 6 July for the first centralised training after the easing of lockdown restrictions by the Malaysian government.
That being said, FAM are still working towards creating the right Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to ensure the safety of all squad.
At the same time, Kamarul was also pleased to see that Luqman will put on hold his plans to move abroad until the completion of the tournament that sees Malaysia in Group D competing against Qatar, Tajikistan and Yemen.
"I've followed closely the stories surrounding Luqman because he is a key player for us and it is great that he has decided to stay here until the end of the U19 tournament.
"While football is a team sport, Luqman has shown in previous tournaments what he could and is vital to our cause," Kamarul added.
