No giant worries: Selangor have only two of their national players, Nooa Laine (left) and Harith Haiqal Adam, involved in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
PETALING JAYA: Pau Marti will be keeping his fingers crossed that there will not be any injury woes to the nine Hairmau Malaya players who will be involved in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
As expected, Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) had seven of their players selected by Harimau Malaya handler Marti for the Merdeka Tournament which will be held from Sept 4-8.
The list also included two players from JDT’s FA Cup opponents Selangor and with the centralised training starting on Aug 29, four days after the FA Cup showdown, the Spaniard’s concern is understandable.
However, Marti said that he was not overly concerned about the situation but would want those players to bring out their best during the final and maintain that momentum during the Merdeka Tournament where he will be in charge for the first time after taking over from South Korean Kim Pan-gon.
JDT’s players who have been named in the squad are goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi, defenders Matthew Davies, Feroz Baharudin and La’vere Corbin Ong, midfielder Afiq Fazail and strikers Arif Aiman Hanapi and Romel Morales.
Selangor won’t be worried too much as Nooa Laine and Harith Haiqal Adam are the only players who will be involved in the FA Cup final.
“I’m worried because we could lose one or two but the most important thing is that they enjoy their game and give their best for their clubs,” said Marti.
“Of course, being injury free is important but they have to play for their clubs first and perform.
“This is also the reason I have another 11 players on standby besides the 26 we have selected for the Merdeka Tournament.”
Marti, who served as Pan-gon’s assistant during last year’s Merdeka Tournament, has retained 18 players from the previous national squad that played their last two matches under Pan-gon at the World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan on June 6 and Taiwan on June 11.
The eight players who have been recalled are Syihan, Aiman, Morales, Afiq, Harith, Terengganu defender Azam Azmi Murad and strikers Syafiq Ahmad from Kedah and veteran Darren Lok of Sabah.
“I’m happy to take this challenge and we still have much room to improve. I believe these are the best players for the moment to achieve our target,” added Marti.
The player on the standby list are Jafri Firdaus Chew, Stuart Wilkin, Shahrul Saad, Nathaniel Shio, Brendan Gan, Declan Lambert, Sikh Izhan Azman, Sharul Nazeem Zulpakar, Shahrul Nizam Ros Hasni, Sergio Aguero and Daniel Amier Norhisham.
Marti, whose job is secure until the AFF Cup Dec 9-Jan 5, has also included national under-23 coach Juan Torres Garrido as one of his assistant coaches to help him during the Merdeka Tournament.
Malaysia will open their campaign against the Philippines on Sept 4 where the winners will advance to the final.
Defending champions Tajikistan will play Lebanon for a place in the final on the same day.
The final will be held at the National Stadium on Sept 8.
