Rajagobal proud of young squad

Rajagobal proud of young squad
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia coach K. Rajagobal feels that he is fortunate to be in charge of a talented young squad that could make history by becoming the first Malaysian side to win the AFF Suzuki Cup.

The Tigers have overcome the loss of a number of key players through injury and a heavy defeat to Indonesia in their opening game to reach the final of the Asean regional tournament for the first time since 1996. They will host the first leg at the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Sunday before travelling to Jakarta for the return match on December 29.

Since losing that inaugural final against Thailand, Tunisian Hatem Souisi, Englishman Allan Harris, Hungarian Bertalan Bickskei and Malaysians Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, Norizan Bakar and B. Sathianathan have tried without success to lead the country back to the final. But despite surpassing expectations to lead his country to within touching distance of the region's top football prize, Rajagobal remains modest about his achievement, preferring instead to heap praise on his youthful side, which has an average age of less than 23 years.

"As the coach of this team, I definitely feel proud and honoured that Malaysia has made it to the final for the first time in 14 years, not forgetting that the players have done their part to get us this far," said Rajagobal, who also led Malaysia's Under-23s to the SEA Games gold medal last December.

"This is a special team as they are the youngest team in the AFF Suzuki Cup. So it is definitely an achievement that we have got so far.

"They may be young players but they have been very consistent and they have been performing well in their matches. It's fortunate for me that it just happened that I am the one coaching the team."

So good have the younger players been that two of the more senior players in the squad – midfielder Amri Yahyah, 29, and defender Razman Roslan, 26 – have been given little playing time since their opening 5-1 loss to the Indonesians. However, Rajagobal still feels that both players have had a role to play in the team's success.

"Because of all our injury problems before the tournament, I needed options in case we suffered more injuries during the tournament. Rasman and Amri are from Selangor, whose training base is very close to our FAM headquarters, and their team had started training early for the season, so they were our best options as cover.

"They have come in and while they have not played a lot, they have done their part. Amri has started and come on as a substitute in most of our games and he scored a couple of important goals against Laos.

"They have also contributed their experience and fit in well with their teammates.They have added to the atmosphere in the squad and also helped with advising and mentoring their younger teammates. But we still have two games to play so their experience may still come in handy for us."

Despite the crushing defeat against the Indonesians in their opener, Rajagobal expects his players to show no fear of their opponents, especially when they meet them in the first leg on home soil.

"We are now in the final and it's a whole different ball game. The first match is gone and we now stand a chance of winning the tournament, even though we consider Indonesia as the favourites.

"Now that we are in the final, we must give us our best shot. We cannot take it too easy like we did in the first game against Indonesia. Of course, the score didn't reflect our performance that day because it was individual mistakes that resulted in so many goals. But we must maintain our discipline and not make it too easy for them.

"Of course, we are very happy that we will have the home crowd behind us for the first leg because it will give us an extra spark as it did in the semi-finals against Vietnam. But more importantly, it will be the first time that Indonesia will be playing away from their home ground in this year's tournament and it will give us a chance to see just what they are made of."

The Malaysians do have a couple of injury concerns with midfielders Amirulhadi Zainal and Khyril Muhymen both nursing knee problems. However, Amirulhadi joined training on Friday morning and both of them are expected to be ready for the match.

"We have a couple of injuries and we will see how they are on Saturday, but everyone is preparing for the match as they normally would," Rajagobal said.

"Of course this is the final and so the feeling before the game is a bit different. But we have given the players all the training and information that they need and hopefully, they will come out strongly on Sunday.

"I'm expecting a big atmosphere at Bukit Jalil on Boxing Day, bigger than even the English Premier League."