Stalwarts: Youthful centreback Harith Haiqal Adam Afkar and national Under-23 skipper Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi (right) are already established players in the Selangor team.
PETALING JAYA: Kinoshi-san likes them young.
No, don’t get it wrong. He has a penchant for grooming young players into match winners.
Selangor’s new Japanese coach, whose full name is Katsuhito Kinoshi, has won in five of his seven outings so far, and has tried to use many of the young players in the games.
The former Serbia assistant coach revealed that he has used every player in the first team, but he lit up when he spoke of his young players.
Since taking over last month, he has fielded youngsters like leftbacks Mohamad Abualnadi, Ahmad Zikri Khalili, midfielders Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi, Syahir Bashah, Harry Danish Haizon, Haykal Danish Haizon, goalkeeper Azim Al-Amin, centrebacks Harith Haiqal Adam Afkar, Faiz Amer Runnizar and winger Aliff Izwan Yuslan.
All of them are below 23, which shows that the club not only has depth, but youth too.
“Since I came here, I have managed to use almost all the players including a few from the Under-23 team. This is an important development,” said the Japanese, who started out with two defeats before his five-match winning streak.
“The team has had a lot of matches this month, so I have given them time to rest before starting training again in January.”
With matches in the Super League and Challenge Cup in the past month, it was good that the squad had fresh legs, especially since some players were out due to injury and also international duty.
Midfielder Noor Al-Rawabdeh suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, defensive midfielder Nikola Jambor is undergoing rehabilitation for a hamstring injury and striker Ali Olwan is recovering from an appendix surgery.
Centreback and captain Safuwan Baharuddin is currently playing for Singapore in the AFF Cup.
Selangor’s next game will be the Klang Valley derby against Kuala Lumpur in the Super League at the Petaling Jaya Stadium on Jan 12.
The club are second in the league with 35 points from 16 games and will be planning on holding on to the spot by shooting down the City boys with their young guns.
