Malaysia to rely on youngsters against Chelsea

The Malaysian Selection to face Chelsea in a friendly on Thursday will be a mixture of youth and experience with several former national players being given a chance to impress.

Goalkeeper Farizal Marlias, who lost his place in the national team due to injury and poor form, will be looking for a good showing to force his way back into national coach K. Rajagobal's plans.

Defenders S. Subramaniam and Daudsu Jamaluddin are almost certainly to be fielded against Chelsea after the backbone of the Olympic's team defence became unavailable as Muslim Ahmad, Fadhli Shas and Mahalli Jasuli are with the national team.

Olympic squad coach Ong Kim Swee, who will take charge of the Malaysian Selection team, also plans to test nine new players he has called up to the Olympic team from states and clubs.

"The team will be a balanced side with a mixture of youth and experience. I need the experienced players because I don't have many options in defence with almost the entire Olympic back-line gone.

"Since we are playing Chelsea, the experienced players are also needed as a guiding influence for the younger players in the team," said Kim Swee, whose team checked into their hotel near Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Hairuddin Omar, the scorer of Malaysia's goal in a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in 2003, is also expected to play against the English club along with Selangor's Amri Yahyah, who memorably struck twice against Manchester United in 2009.

Kim Swee can also draw on the experience of Kelantan skipper Badhri Radzi and Perak captain Shahrulnizam Mustapha for the two central midfield positions.

Young players such as Kuala Lumpur forward Ahmad Hazwan Bakri, Sabah midfielder Rozaimi Abdul Rahman, Pahang's Famirul Asyraf Sayuti and Khairul Akhyar Hussein of PKNS will also be looking to impress to earn a place in Kim Swee's Olympic squad for the tour of Slovakia next month.

"I don't consider this as part of our Olympic qualifying preparation as this is a one-off match. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the players to play a big club like Chelsea and nothing more," added Kim Swee.

Five players to be dropped from the national squad to travel to Singapore for a World Cup qualifier on Saturday will likely be added to Kim Swee's 40-strong training squad before a short-list of 21 players is named to face Chelsea at the National Stadium.