As the 2021 Malaysian domestic season nears its conclusion with only the TM Piala Malaysia final match left to be played, thankfully fans will not be without Malaysian football action for long. Early next month, the 2020 edition of the AFF Suzuki Cup will be played in Singapore, with our own Harimau Malaya having been drawn in Group B of the competition alongside Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The 2020 edition has been long-awaited and had originally been scheduled to be played last year, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malaysia too have been preparing for the 13th edition of the biannual tournament, with the centralised camp currently being held at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya by Malaysia head coach Tan Cheng Hoe.

He has called up 28 players to the camp, with the intention of whittling down the squad to 24 just before the tournament. Among them are four names that we are familiar with, four Selangor FC boys who look to attain glory for the country and also themselves.

They are striker Shahrel Fikri, goalkeeper Khairulazhan Khalid, midfielder Mukhairi Ajmal, as well as defender Quentin Cheng. They will be vying for a spot in the final 24-man squad that will be leaving for Singapore on December 3. Meanwhile, loanee Rodney Celvin who is currently at Kedah DA has been placed in the standby list along with two players from other clubs.

The inclusion of the four Red Giants also hints at Cheng Hoe's player selection philosophy, in that he seeks to combine experience with youthful exuberance. While Shahrel and Khairulazhan are already regular internationals, Mukhairi and Quentin are very recent debutants for Harimau Malaya.

In Shahrel's case, this is his chance to return to the national team after 2019. While Malaysia played no matches in 2020, he missed those played earlier this year due to his injury. The 27-year old has since recovered just in time to help Selangor FC reach the cup quarter-finals while netting one goal along the way, and now has been included on the preliminary list

"While I have recovered fully, I need to work more to recover my previous form. I'm very grateful to the coaches for putting their confidence in me by calling me up. The final squad has not been finalised but I believe everyone of us here at the centralised training deserves to play for the country.

"If I were selected, my personal objective is to be in the first eleven for Malaysia, despite my recent recovery," explained the forward.

For Quentin on the other hand, it was another step-up for him. Although his appearance in Malaysia's 4-0 friendly defeat to Jordan in June was only his first at the senior international level, he has nevertheless achieved a lot this year.

A loan spell at Penang FC saw the 22-year old appear for them in all of their Super League matches en route to finishing in third place, and afterwards he helped the junior Malaysia team qualify for the 2021 U-23 Asian Cup finals, playing in all three group qualifying encounters.

"I'm very happy with this year; the whole reason behind me going to Penang was to gain playing minutes and Super League experience and I thinkI did this. I started in all 22 league games for them, which was not easy as the fixtures were congested in a Covid season. I'm also glad and honoured to have made my debut for the senior national team, my parents were very happy as well, and then to have helped Malaysia U-22 qualify for Uzbekistan next year. It's a good year for me.

"My immediate target for now is to work hard to get on the final 24-man squad as the current list is quite tough, and then if I get to go to Singapore I want to make the country proud and get as many minutes as possible, to take full advantage of the opportunity to come on and represent Malaysia," said the right back whose return to the club had been announced earlier this week.

The two were also asked about the chances of Malaysia going far in the finals. Both responded that they are confident of the national team's quality. 

"I believe that we can go all the way to the final if every player does their best for the country," responded Shahrel.

"While our group is not easy, I honestly believe we have a good chance because we have the quality. We can reach the semi-finals but we need to take it game by game in order to qualify for the knockout stage," answered the Australian-born Quentin.

Good luck to our Red Giants who are currently undergoing centralised training for the Harimau Malaya, we hope they all make the cut and then bring glory to the country as well as Selangor FC.

By Zulhilmi Zainal