PETALING JAYA: National coach A. Arulselvaraj will not have his trusted deputy Amin Rahim by his side for the World Cup campaign due to the latter’s commitment to prepare the junior squad for the upcoming Junior Asia Cup.
Amin, who is also the Speedy Tigers’ penalty corner coach, has been helping Razie Rahim, Faizal Saari, Najmi Farizal Jazlan, Aminuddin Zain and several players to improve their conversions.
The national junior squad started their training on Wednesday and will be leaving to play friendlies in Australia on Jan 18. They are also preparing to compete in the Junior Asia Cup, which is likely to be held in the next few months.
Besides Amin, psychologist S. Aruna and dietician Tham Ching Suen have also been left out as the World Cup organisers have limited the accreditation to 30 per team. Malaysia will have a squad of 20 players while the 10 backroom staff, including Arulselvaraj and team manager Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi, will leave for India today.
Physiotherapist Fauzan Sanusi, who is said to be facing health issues, has been replaced by Thomas Wong for the World Cup.
“My right-hand man Amin won’t be there and I will miss him. But we have to release him as he needs to prepare the national junior squad,” said Arulselvaraj.
“The squad are preparing for the Junior Asia Cup and they will also leave for Australia to play in friendlies on Jan 18 and Amin doesn’t have much time.
“We have explained the situation to him, he is fully supportive and he can still contribute by sharing his expertise through our software system.
“I have also handled the penalty corner training (while with South Africa and Ireland) and also have Brandon (Carolan) and Azrul (Effendy Bustamam) for assistance while Tom (Drowley) will assume Aruna’s duties.
“Although I’m the head coach, I believe in having the SME (subject matter experts) and this is the reason we have 13 backroom staff. They are my backbone but I had to leave three of them out due to limited accreditation.”
Despite the minor setback, Arulselvaraj is upbeat that the Speedy Tigers will be able to give a solid performance and get past the group stage.
Malaysia are in Group C with Holland, New Zealand and Chile, and they need at least a win to ensure a spot in the playoffs.
“Our initial aim is to clear the group stage and get into the playoffs. We will take it from there,” added Arulselvaraj.
Champions of the four groups will advance straight into the quarter-finals while the second and third-placed teams will face off in the playoffs to secure the remaining four spots.
Malaysia, if they can overcome New Zealand and Chile, will go through to the playoffs where they will meet the teams from Group D that finish second or third.
The playoff will be tough as Malaysia could play any of the four teams - England, Spain, India or Wales – in search of a last-eight berth.
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