URL Sumber Asal :-

Safiq Rahim - Google Blog Search

Posted: 31 May 2012 07:25 AM PDT

NATIONAL skipper Safiq Rahim wants to only taste victory when Malaysia play three friendly matches in the next two weeks.
Malaysia will play the Philippines tomorrow before taking on Singapore on June 8 and 12.
After playing a rather insignificant friendly against lowly-ranked Sri Lanka, these matches will be tougher for K. Rajagobal's boys as the world ranking of the
Philippines is higher than Malaysia, and Singapore have naturalised players. The Philippines are ranked No 148 and Malaysia 153.
"Although they are ranked above us, the difference in quality isn't that great. In fact, we are quite closely-matched in most areas and it would be interesting games to play," said Safiq.
"We need to get things right against both teams after suffering some disappointments in the past."
Safiq & Co could only manage a 1-1 draw when they played the Philippines in Manila on Feb 28, whereas being shown the exit at the World Cup qualifiers by Singapore still stings the Malaysian team.
The match against Philippines will not be any easier than the first time around as they have beefed up their squad with four Germany-based players.
"Who they have called up is not for us to be concerned about. We have to deal with these matters. Different countries have different ideologies in terms of naturalising foreign players and neither is it wrong to do so," added the 24-year-old.
Just like Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines are expected to take the friendlies seriously as they prepare for the Asean Cup later this year.
Malaysia are defending champions and having tested around 60 players since the start of the year, a core of players have already been identified.
Rajagobal has named a 26-member squad, which includes Pelita Jaya striker Safee Sali, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Safiq Rahim, K. Gurusamy and Khairul Fahmi Che Mat for the friendlies.

Malay Mail

Azkals to face 'stronger' Malaysian side « phfootballscribe

Posted: 30 May 2012 10:23 PM PDT

Skipper Safiq Rahim, fleet-footed S. Kunanlan and star striker Safee Sali were among those who were named to the 26-man lineup by coach K Rajagobal that will be pitted against the Azkals, who will also parade one of their strongest squads in years. Ten players from the team that beat Indonesia for the Suzuki Cup in 2010 are actually in Rajagobal's side for the friendly.

Azkals manager Dan Palami acknowledged that Friday's friendly will be a tougher challenge for the Azkals than their 1-1 draw with Malaysia three months ago at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Palami said the Tigers also perform well when they play at home.

"We have a daunting task of trying to finally deal Malaysia with the first home loss since 2009," said Palami, who remains concerned with cohesion with Denis Wolf playing together with Stephan Schrock and Paul Mulders for the first time.

Wolf, whose passport problems were sorted out recently, will play up front in the absence of leading scorer Phil Younghusband, who will miss the match along with older brother James because of earlier commitments.

Still, the Azkals have options in the wing positions with skipper Chieffy Caligdong close to 100 percent and impressing during the Azkals camp in Bacolod last week.

Fil-German Patrick Reichelt could make his debut for the national side, while Jeff Christiaens and Fil-Iranian Misagh Bahadoran add depth to personell on the flanks as an option behind Angel Guirado.

Azkals coach Michael Weiss marveled at the newfound depth of the Azkals lineup.

"We have been very working hard to get more options.," said Weiss, who steered the Azkals to a historic third place finish in the AFC Challenge Cup. "We have big depth in the squad that was missing through parts of the Challenge Cup."

Palami said it helped that the European season was finished a few weeks ago that made players like Schrock and Mulders available for the matches against Malaysia and Indonesia on June 5 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

"We know that the desire to play for the country is there," said Palami. "But with the clubs it's always difficult to get what we want."

Jumaat, 1 Jun 2012

Safiq Rahim - Google Blog Search

Safiq Rahim - Google Blog Search

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan