Rajagobal: Core of players will be decided from China tour

THE door remains open to others but the core of the Under-23 squad for the Merdeka Cup in August and December's Laos Sea Games will come from the 24 players going for the China tour on June 1-10.
Coach K. Rajagobal has yet to name the players for the China trip.

The Malaysian team will play China Super League side Shanghai Shenhua on June 6 and Premier League teams Nanchang FC on June 3 and Shanghai Zhong FC on June 8.

Shanghai Shenhua, who have five imports and five internationals, are currently fourth in the China Super League and will be the national team's strongest opponents in the tour.

The China tour is arranged by the FA of Malaysia as a replacement for the cancelled Under-23 Inter-Continental Championships.
"It will be an important tour to make sure we stay on the right path in terms of team development," said Rajagobal yesterday.

"It allows me to test my players and also identify areas which need to be improved. As for now, it's pretty hard to judge their progress from just two previous friendly matches. My main priority is to see them gel."

The national Under-23 side started a series of friendly matches with a 0-0 draw with Selangor before defeating Singapore 3-0 recently.

After the tour, the national Under-23 team will face Indonesia on June 13 in Kuala Lumpur.

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