KUALA LUMPUR: More new faces have been called up to join the national football team’s centralised training camp ahead of the friendly against New Zealand at the North Harbour Stadium, Auckland on Oct 14.
They are Selangor goalkeeper Azim Al Amin Kamaruddin, as well as young players from the national Under-19 squad who have just returned from the 2025 Under-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Tajikistan, namely goalkeeper Haziq Aiman Mohd Esa (JDT II) and Haykal Danish Mohd Haizon (Selangor).
National squad head coach Pau Marti Vicente also recalled Sabah midfielder Stuart Wilkin who was not with the team during the 2024 Merdeka Tournament for the training camp starting this Sunday.
Vicente retained 23 of the 26 players from the team that won the Merdeka Tournament last month to complete a 27-man line-up this time around, while 11 players were placed on the standby list in case of changes to the main list.
“The Harimau Malaya squad will depart directly to Auckland on Oct 6 to undergo a week-long centralised training camp for the match against New Zealand on Oct 14 and return home the following day,” according to a statement from Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) yesterday.
Malaysia emerged champions of the Merdeka Tournament after defeating the Philippines 2-1 in the semi-finals on Sept 4 and overcame Lebanon 1-0 in the final on Sept 8 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
