Tigers will stay motivated - weather or not nature is kind

PETALING JAYA: Mother nature has not been kind to the national team for the past few days.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms have put a damper on their training sessions at the Universiti Malaya Arena.

It’s certainly not the ideal preparation for Harimau Malaya before they face Timor Leste in the first qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in a two-leg fixture on June 7 and 11 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Prior to the matches, Malaysia will play a friendly against Nepal on Sunday.

Malaysia coach Tan Cheng Hoe said despite the adverse weather, it has not dampened the mood in the camp.

“Whatever training that’s been done has been good and the players are highly motivated. I always emphasise on a harmonious environment and that can be seen with this squad,” said Cheng Hoe.

“We cut short some of our sessions because we don’t want to see the boys getting injured on the heavy pitch.”

When asked why the Arena was selected, Cheng Hoe explained that the venue has floodlights and was near to their hotel.

“Since it’s Ramadhan, we have to train at night and the Arena fulfilled our requirements.

“Despite the unpredictable weather, this is the best place to train. Hopefully, the weather would be kind to us in the next few days.”

The team, however, changed their venue yesterday and trained at an artificial field at the Semarak Felda Institute in Bangi yesterday.

Meanwhile, captain and goalkeeper Farizal Marlias is down with fever.

The Johor Darul Ta’zim player is expected to rejoin training in a day or two and should be between the posts against Nepal.

Cheng Hoe said the boys would be given a day off on the eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri and reminded them not to lose focus on the task at hand.

“Two days after Raya, we will be playing Timor Leste. On the very first day of training, I told them that their focus should be on the matches and not on Hari Raya.”