Malaysian Project 2013 squad will be under analysis for the European tour
The Project 2013 team will be analysed in their next training segment, which is going to start from next week, prior to their European tour which will start in the first week of the next month.
The squad has just completed two tasks, first in the Four-Nations tournament in Moscow, where key players participated, while eight of the squad’s players played in recently held Junior Asia Cup, where they finished second to South Korea.
The Project 2013 squad will start their European campaign from July 6, where they will be tested against some of the European hockey giants like Germany, Netherlands and England. In their European tour they will play a total of 10 matches, two against Netherlands,
four against Germany and four against England before the conclusion of their tour on July 20.
“Overall there were some good play but we are lacking in several areas, most of all in terms of exposure. Our finishing was poor and we lacked flickers in the penalty corner department. There is still a lot work to be done with their basics but this can
only come when they start playing more high quality matches.” K Gobinathan, the coach of the Malaysian Under-18 squad.
He was quite impressed with the abilities and the talent of three of the Under-18 squad members, Mohamed Fitri Saari, Hairul Nizam and Shahrul Imran in the Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament.
“These two can be considered for the Project team. I will put forward their names to the chief coach for consideration. In the Project team we have this policy where we review the performances of the players every three months and then make changes to the
squad,” Gobinathan further stated about some of the shining players who are on the edge of selection to represent their country at higher level.
The main target of the Project 2013 squad is the 2013 Junior World Cup, but most recently they are being prepared for the next year’s Junior Asia Cup which also will serve as a qualifying stage for the Junior World Cup in 2013.
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