KUALA LUMPUR – Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) player Natxo Insa will not be joining Harimau Malaya’s central training camp starting March 8, ahead of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Oman on March 21.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in a statement announcing the list of 33 players called to participate in the training, showed that the Spanish-Malaysian naturalised midfielder was only on the standby list.
Based on the list of players called up, national squad manager Kim Pan-gon retained 21 of the 26 players from the 2023 Asian Cup squad in Qatar in January.
The other four players placed on the standby list are Mohd Afiq Fazail, Mohamadou Sumareh, Ahmad Khuzaimi Piee and Muhammad Syahmi Safari.
In the meantime, the statement also said 12 new players were called up, including from the Under-23 squad, among them Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi, Nooa Laine and Ahmad Zikri Khalili.
“However, some of these 33 players will report late on March 15 and immediately after their arrival, some players who are below age 23 will be released to the central training camp of the National Under-23 squad run by Juan Torres Garrido,” according to FAM.
Pan-gon, in the same statement, said early preparations need to be made to face two important matches against Oman this March, even though all the club teams are busy undergoing pre-season training for the Malaysia League (M-League), which starts on May 10.
“After discussions with the clubs involved, some players will only report on March 15 because I understand that they have just returned from vacation and just started training with their clubs, compared to other players who have started training with their clubs earlier,” he said.
The Harimau Malaya squad will be in action for the third match of Group D against Oman on March 21 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, before flying back for the reverse tie at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on March 26. – March 1, 2024