No time to rest: Malaysian players undergoing training ahead of their Merdeka Tournament final against Tajikistan today. — FAM’s Facebook
SUBANG JAYA: Tajikistan are ranked higher but they are playing to the underdog tag ahead of the final against Malaysia in the Merdeka Tournament.
Coach Petar Segrt said the world No. 110 were ill-prepared following the absence of 15 key players and went on to declare that Malaysia would be the favourites to win the clash at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
Hosts and world No. 134 had set up a final date with Tajikistan after beating India 4-2 in the opening match on Friday.
“We do not have our 15 players for this tournament. The average age of our squad is 21, which I believe is the youngest international team in this FIFA period,” said the coach, who hails from Croatia.
“I have one player who is just 16 (Dilovari Jamshedzoda). My oldest player is 28. I do not have players like Manuchekhr (Dzhalilov), who is down with cancer. I do not have Ehson (Panjshanbe), Alisher (Dzhalilov), Komron (Tursunov), Siyovush (Asrorov) and Rustam (Yatimov).
“We could not get them because their clubs had other competitive assignments and we wanted to help those clubs.
“So I guess, this is the best time for Malaysia to beat us. The hosts are the favourites.”
But despite having a weakened squad, he said that his team would fight for 90 minutes and earn the respect of the Malaysian crowd.
“I’ve great respect for this Merdeka Tournament and I’m not giving away the 90 minutes for free. The atmosphere and experience will be great for my young boys and they will fight for the title.”
Segrt only wishes for one thing, that the game would be won on a fair ground.
“I watched the Malaysia versus India game on the television. I also had a chat with my countryman Stimac (India’s coach Igor Stimac) and his boys and the pitch is a problem,” he said.
“They said it wasn’t easy to run on the field because of the patches of grass that kept coming out. Players easily fell because of the pitch conditions.
“And we also saw the refereeing in the previous game. I just want the game to be fair. I hope the referee will not give any penalties whenever a Malaysian falls easily in the penalty box.”
