FAM give Azam and Davies until tomorrow

DBasia.news – Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) gives a period of time until tomorrow to two Pahang players Nor Azam Abdul Azih and Matthew Davies to report themselves to the under-23 squad (B-23).

FAM deputy president Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi explained that the two players will be deemed not interested in joining Datuk Ong Kim Swee’s squad to the Asian Games in Palembang next month if they failed to report themselves in before the team starts training 5pm tomorrow.

He will contact the Pahang State Football Association (PBNP) to get an explanation on the status of Azam and Matthew as two other Tok Gajah players, Faisal Abdul Halim and R Kogileswaran have already reported on the first day of the central training camp at Wisma FAM today.

“Today we can see 25 out of 28 players called in by the coach reported in and another (Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak) has confirmed to report tomorrow. It means only two players are absent.

“If there is a letter or have been officially informed we can say that they will not come (to the central training camp), but so far no official letters were received and we suppose they fail to report on the first day of the training.

“We need to arrange players to a friendly match in China (August 5), so we have to prepare the documentation process for it by Thursday or Friday,” he told reporters during a training session at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, today.

Despite the absence of Azam and Davies, the presence of almost all the players called out clearly relieves Kim Swee after speculation has arisen which says some teams are reluctant to release their players as the Asian Games collide with the Malaysian Cup.

Meanwhile, Kim Swee refuses to think about the absence of Azam and Davies, instead focusing on preparing his team with the existing players.

“It’s up to the management to resolve the matter and that’s important I have to focus on existing players rather than thinking of the absence.

“I have Daniel Amier Norhisham, Baddrol Bakhtiar and Nik Akif Shahiran Nik Mat, I’ll see if they can be in the squad or not. We only have two or three days of training and if they are absent tomorrow, they are not interested, “he said.