PETALING JAYA: Promising defender Safwan Mazlan admits that it will not be easy to compete with the prowess of senior players in his efforts to break into Harimau Malaya’s starting line-up ahead of the remaining two matches of Group D in the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers, this month.
Safwan, who was called up for the second time to participate in the training camp with Harimau Malaya, said that he will still prove his ability in the training session to win the heart of head coach Kim Pan Gon to give him the opportunity to be fielded later.
“It’s a struggle (challenging senior players) because I’m a young player, however, I need to work harder to get a place in the main squad,” he said when met at a training session here yesterday.
At the same time, the Terengganu FC player said the intensity of training with the senior team was higher than with the national Under-23 (U-23) squad before.
The 22-year-old player said that so far he has not faced any problem in adapting to the tactical aspect of Pan Gon’s plan since it is not much different from the experience he had with the coach of the national U-23 squad, Juan Torres Garrido.
After four matches, Malaysia, who are third in Group D with six points, will face Kyrgyzstan at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek on June 6 before meeting Taiwan in the final action at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil here on June 11.
Kyrgyzstan is currently leading the competition in Group D followed by Oman in second place with nine points each while Taiwan is at the bottom with no points.
— BERNAMA
