KUALA LUMPUR: National Under-23 coach Ong Kim Swee has announced that Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) are the first team to release their players for national training for the Indonesia Asian Games.
Kim Swee commended the Super League champions for their willingness to put country before club, and he hopes the other teams will follow in their footsteps.
"I have been contacted by the Crown Prince of Johor, HRH Major General Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim today, and he, as the owner of the Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) club, has agreed to release eight of the JDT players to join the national U-23 squad for the Asian Games in Indonesia next month," Kim Swee said in a statement on the FAM Facebook page on Sunday night.
"This consent by Tunku Ismail shows that he has a high level of sportsmanship and realises duty to the country is of more importance than those to the club, even though he is aware that his players will miss some of their preliminary 2018 Malaysia Cup matches with JDT.
"Hopefully, the other teams will also follow suit to cooperate in releasing their players who have been called up to the 2018 Asian Games squad to ensure that I have a complete squad.”
FAM, on Wednesday, called up 24 players for national training starting on July 30 but there is no guarantee the players concerned will be released by their clubs.
