PETALING JAYA: It looks like Charlton Athletic’s Richard Chin (pic) is set to be the next heritage player to don national colours.
If his application is approved, the 20-year-old, who is born to Malaysian father and mother, who hails from Seychelles, will play for Harimau Malaya.
Plying his trade with Charlton Athletic, Richard made his bow in the league when he played for 72 minutes in the club’s 1-1 draw with East Green at the Valley Stadium in London on Sept 13.
He became the first player of Malaysian descent to feature in the English League.
Richard has been with Charlton since he was six and made his first team debut in 2021 when he played against Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy.
Meanwhile, Harimau Malaya, under coach Kim Pan-gon, must be extra cautious of the threat from South Korea in Group E of the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar next January.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said that besides being the best team in Asia, South Korea are also a world-class team as they have competed in the FIFA World Cup many times.
Apart from world No. 27 South Korea, Malaysia have also been pitted with Jordan (world No. 84) and Bahrain (85) in Group E during the recent draw in Qatar.
“We must tread with caution because the teams in our group are among the best in Asia. If we look at South Korea, they are not just the best in Asia but they also have World Cup pedigree,” he said at the FAM Hari Raya celebration at Wisma FAM here today.
On the target set for Pan-gon at the Asian Cup, Hamidin said: I hope we do not end up losing all our matches. If we can qualify for the last 16, that will be a good achievement because it will raise our world ranking.”
On the dismal performance of the national Under-22 team at the recently-concluded Cambodia SEA Games, he said FAM were awaiting a complete performance report from head coach E. Elavarasan, reported Bernama.
“This was his (Elavarasan’s) first time managing the Under-22 squad at the SEA Games, so we must wait for the report from him and the technical team for our technical director and main team coach Pan-gon to evaluated.
