KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya suffered another injury setback on Saturday as their first-choice goalkeeper, Ahmad Syihan Hazmi, has been ruled out of their World Cup qualifying matches against Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan.
Malaysia are already missing several regular players, including Faisal Halim, Romel Morales, Arif Aiman Hanapi, and Darren Lok due to various issues for the two crucial Group D matches. The FA of Malaysia confirmed Syihan's unavailability for the matches in a statement on Saturday.
However, national coach Kim Pan Gon has decided not to call up another goalkeeper as a replacement, as he already has three keepers—Azri Ab Ghani, Kalamullah Al-Hafiz Mat Rowi, and Sikh Izhan Nazrel Sikh Azman—in camp.
Meanwhile, Dion Cools, Matthew Davies, La'Vere Corbin-Ong, Shahrul Saad, Feroz Baharudin and Endrick dos Santos officially reported for training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya on Saturday.
Selangor's Nooa Laine, completing the 25-member squad, will report to Pan Gon on Monday.
The team will head to Bishkek on Tuesday for the match against Kyrgyzstan on June 6.
They will then host Taiwan in their final Group D qualifier on June 11.
Pan Gon's side must secure positive results in their final two group matches to have any chance of advancing to the third stage of the World Cup qualifiers.
