KUALA LUMPUR (26 Dec 2011) – Ong Kim Swee, the chief coach of the Harimau Muda has set a target of finishing in the top five in the S-League – the competition that they will be taking part in 2012 as part of the MOU signed between the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and the FA of Singapore (FAS).
Following the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), Harimau Muda will take part in the competition in the S-League and other Cup competitions while Singapore will also have a team playing in the M-League.
“Personally, I’m setting the target of finishing in the top five in the S-League as it is part of the motivation for the players to perform against quality opponents,” said Kim Swee.
And while Singapore have decided to add 11 over-aged players in their LIONSXII team playing in the M-League, Kim Swee on the other hand is more courageous where he has chosen to utilize only players under the age of 23-years-old where at the same time, he has also included six 18year-olds in Nazmi Faiz Mansor, Syazwan Tajuddin, Akmal Ishak, Azizan Nordin, Nur Areef Kamaruddin and Firdaus Muhammad. There are also four players under the ageof 19-years-old and they are Syahrul Azwari Ibrahim, Nazirul Naim Che Hashim, Shahrul Saad and Farhan Abu Bakar.
The other players in the team are Mahali Jasuli, Affize Faisal Mamat and V. Kavichelvan (all 23-years-old), Izzaq Faris Ramlan, Syahid Zaidon and Shahril Saari (all 22-years-old).
The remainder of the players are under the age of 21 and they are Fadhli Shas, Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor, A. Thamil Arasu, Irfan Fazail, Wan Zaharulnizam Zakaria, Izham Tarmizi Roslan, Ferris Danial Mat Nasir, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri, Fandi Othman, D. Saarvindran, Gary Steven Robbat and Amer Saidin.
