* ‘No one has been dropped’ – Dollah
None of the 50 odd players, including those from Johor Darul Takzim, shortlisted by the FA of Malaysia for the national squad have been dropped, said national football coach Dollah Salleh.
This is despite the fact that Dollah left out several names – all regulars – from his squad for the recent friendly match against English giants Liverpool at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil. The match played on Friday ended in a 1-1 draw and Dollah had only three days of training.
The result left big questions if Dollah will make drastic changes to his team although it must be remembered that Dollah roped in a handful of foreign players from the M-League to beef up his squad.
And it was the last minute inclusion of Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh who made the difference when he scored for the Malaysian Selection.
The biggest surprise was when Dollah did not include any player from JDT although half of the national team is made up of players from the Southern Tigers – winners of the Super League title last year.
“None of the players have been dropped from the initial squad. The FAM have some 50 odd names, including those from JDT on the list and none of have been dropped.”
Even when Selangor did not release their players, Dollah did not call up Safiq Rahim and Amri Yahyah – the only two JDT players who were named as reserves.
Dollah does not want to say a word on that and refused to give his reasons for sidelining the duo.
What Dollah endured no other coach endured – struggling to find players for his Malaysia Selection – and many questions were left unanswered when there was a massive “clean up” of Johor Darul Takzim players.
The heartwarming performance by the bunch of “newcomers” could see massive changes in the national team but Dollah is playing cool until things are sorted out. For now things remain status quo.
Others from JDT not named to the squad for the Liverpool match are Farizal Marlias, Fadhli Shaas, Junior Eldstal, S. Kunanlan, Mahali Jasuli, Safee Sali and Nazrin Nawi.
Also excluded by Dollah were Muslim Ahmad (Police), Indra Putra Mahayuddin (Felda United) and R. Gopinathan (Pahang). Terengganu-born Muslim has since been sacked from the Police team.
