Shahrel Fikri had to end his training early on Wednesday, according to Malaysia boss Tan Cheng Hoe.
BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
While Malaysia began their centralised camp for the World Cup Asia qualification match against Vietnam with five players on the injury list, they now look likely to add one more man to it.
The Harimau Malaya earlier underwent first day of training minus Danial Amier, J. Partiban, Shahrul Saad, Azam Azih and Halim Saari, and according to head coach Tan Cheng Hoe forward Shahrel Fikri Fauzi too has hurt himself.
“Shahrel is the latest to have picked up an injury, he hurt his groin halfway through yesterday’s (Wednesday) training and had to end his session early.
“We need to observe him, and see whether the medical team thinks he can recover in time for the Sri Lanka friendly (on October 5),” said Cheng Hoe when met just before conducting training on Thursday morning.
But the former Kedah boss is not fretting about the absence, as he believes that this will provide the back-up players the opportunity to shine for the Harimau Malaya.
“As a coach I now must find player alternatives and options,” said the 51-year old trainer. “And at the same time this is a chance for the players who haven’t received much playing time to show that they deserve the call-up.
“[Against Sri Lanka] I’m looking to obtain match fitness, confidence and also to improve on the attack. We’ve not been able to put away the numerous chances we created, but at the same time we also need to work on our defending.
“We conceded five goals in our last three matches; which is too many and worrying. The team as a whole needs to improve.”
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