KUALA LUMPUR: National goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman remained optimistic that his chances of playing in the Indonesia Asian Games are still bright even though he was dropped from the Australian Tour.
Twenty players were selected to play in the five-match friendlies starting Tuesday next week, and coach Stephen van Huizen is expected to name his final 18 for Jakarta after the friendlies.
National No 1 goalkeepeer S. Kumar and Hairi Rahman will play in Perth. Both of them were also selected for the Argentina Tour in May, where Hafizuddin was again out of the picture.
"I was really hoping to be selected for Australia after not being included for the Argentina Test matches.
"I have not played in the Asian Games before and it would have been nice to go to Australia to prove myself.
"Even though I was not selected, when the players return home, I still have two weeks of the final phase to catch the eyes of selectors.
"I am disappointed in not being included for the tours, but I am not one to give up as the door is still open for me to play at the Asian Games and World Cup this year.
Hafizuddin kept goal for Malaysia when Kumar was undergoing a six-month ban for failing a doping test at the Asia Cup in Dhaka last year.
