Football
Jason Dasey 8y

JDT striker Safee Sali to return for Malaysia in WCQ vs. UAE

Johor Darul Ta'zim striker Safee Sali will be handed a starting spot as Malaysia play for pride in their penultimate AFC 2018 World Cup qualifier against United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

The Group A game, at Shah Alam Stadium, will be played behind closed doors because of FIFA sanctions stemming from crowd trouble during September's home qualifier against Saudi Arabia.

The Malaysians are licking their wounds after a second 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Palestine in Amman last Thursday.

Interim coach Ong Kim Swee will be without four players because of injury, suspension and personal reasons, meaning that Safee will be one of a quartet brought into the side. He missed the trip to the Middle East due to an accumulation of yellow cards during the campaign.

"Safee is in camp with us now and he's definitely in our plans," Malaysia assistant coach Brad Maloney told ESPN FC.

Also coming into the 23-man squad at Kelana Jaya are Azaruddin Akil, Badrul Bakthiar and Jasazrin Jamaludin. Defenders Razman Roslan and Nazirul Naim were injured against Palestine while forward Amri Yahyah collected two yellow cards and must serve a one-match suspension. Meanwhile, striker Hazwan Bakri has been released to prepare for his wedding next week.

Malaysia are determined to give a much better account of themselves than September's record 10-0 thrashing to UAE in Abu Dhabi. The defeat saw Dollah Salleh step down as head coach with Ong and Maloney taking over on an interim basis.

Against Palestine, Harimau Malaya competed well for the first half an hour before conceding twice before half-time. They also leaked two late goals in the final two minutes of the match, repeating their tendency to switch off defensively at crucial moments.

"Obviously we were disappointed with the scoreline and felt that we deserved more out of the game," Maloney said. "We had a few knocks and bruises so a few changes have been forced upon us again.

"We will keep the players ticking over in training and are determined for a positive result against UAE."

The Emiratis, who finished third in January's AFC Asian Cup, are competing with Palestine for second spot in Group A. They have 10 points from five games compared to Palestine's nine points from six games. Malaysia are fifth in the six team group with four points from six games.

   

^ Back to Top ^