India Gear Up For Friendly Against Malaysia In Hyderabad

By P. VijianNEW DELHI, July 15 (Bernama) -- The Indian national football squad will use a friendly match against Malaysia in Hyderabad on July 22 to gear up for the team's participation in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup 2008 later this month.India ranked 153rd in the FIFA world ranking, are also drawn together in the same group with Malaysia in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup football qualifying round which will start next year."We are in the process of preparing for the AFC Challenge (Cup) and we wanted some match exposure so we decided to play against Malaysia. We wanted to play with a team which have a similar ranking like India," All India Football Federation media director B.M.R Mehta told Bernama.The AIFF general-secretary Alberto Colaco said the friendly match will be used to identify the weaknesses in the team and will give enough time for the coaches to iron out the flaws before the AFC Challenge Cup kicks off on July 30 to Aug 10."We had earlier played a match against Chinese Taipei but found that they are not a formidable team, so we wanted to play against a stronger team and Malaysia, ranked 166th are the ideal choice," he added.Meanwhile, Malaysian head coach Sathianathan and his assistants Zaki Sheikh Ahmad, Ismail Ibrahim and Mazlan Wahid as well as physical trainer Rustov Bozik have identified 18 players for the India trip but lamented the lack of time to prepare for competitive matches as the respective states were not releasing their players early because of the ongoing Malaysia Cup.Sathianathan has included seven players - Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, S. Subramaniam, Daudsu Jamaluddin (defenders), Azi Shahril Azmi, Amirulhadi Zainal (midfield) and Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak, Khyril Muhymeen Zambri (strikers) who lost to China's Olympic squad 0-4 in Yanbian on Sunday.The 18 players will report for centralised training Wednesday at Wisma FAM.The Squad: Goalkeepers: Helmi Eliza Elias, Badrulzaman Abdul Halim; Defenders: S. Subramaniam, Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, Fauzie Nan, Daudsu Jamaluddin, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Irwan Fadzli Idrus, Shafizan Hashim; Midfielders: Shukor Adan, Hardi Jaafar, Amirulhadi Zainal, Azi Shahril Azmi; Strikers: Hairuddin Omar, Nizaruddin Yusof, Indra Putra Mahayuddin, Khyril Muhymeen Zambri, Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak.-- BERNAMA source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_sports.php?