The Malaysia Experiment - My Managerial Debut

Alright, I'm back to work! Called up my first 23 players with 8 players getting their first call-up for the upcoming friendly! Let's see if I manage to give them their first cap. My most senior players are Mohd Safiq Rahim and S. Kunanlan (who has actually retired in 2016 in real life). The biggest name to miss out is experienced GK Khairul Fahmie Che Mat. Now that I've got my star Saddam El-Hafedz Shahri that's going to play as my main GK, I thought I could give a cap to Mohd Farizal Harun before he retires from football.

The media reported that Harimau Malaya supporters questions my decision to call up 32-year-old Mohd Afif Amiruddin; but with injuries to Insa and Mohd Saad, I was really left with not much choice. :/ I've also chosen to bring in Raaj Baarathy (19 years old) instead of Talaha (30 years old), who has 40 caps and 15 international goals to his name. Hopefully, Raaj Baarathy will justify my decision.

I've picked Mohd Safiq Rahim as our new captain, as Mohd Amri Yahyah is way past his best at the age of 36. We will forever remember him for the wonder goal that he scored against Manchester United at Bukit Jalil Stadium. Here's that wonder goal against Edwin van der Sar, in honor of him.

The U23s and U19s played a day before the main squad. East Timor is currently ranked at 182nd and it showed. Our U19s beat them 3-0; with Nazrin Aiman Azmi (17 years old) scoring 2 goals, and winning the man of the match with a rating of 8.8! Our U23s whooped the opponents 5-1 whereby Muhd Juzaerul Jasmi scored 4 goals and had a rating of 9.9! He's definitely one for the future. He suffered a minor injury from the match though - facial laceration from jumping. Hope he gets well soon.

I've got my team set up, with half of them from Johor DT, and my midfield central pairing from Pahang. Strangely, Brendan Gan is still club-less. I'll be giving debuts to Shahri (GK), Pannierselvam (CB), Adbul Razak (CM) and Mohd Yusop (ST). There's 4 more on the substitute bench, so we'll see how the match plays out.

We came out 3-0 victors! I know it's just a friendly, and it's against East Timor, but it's still morale-boosting nonetheless. Brendon Gan scored a brace and I hauled him off at halftime with the next match in view as he's not really match-fit (haven't been playing much football). T. do Carmo scored an own goal from a cross by S. Kunanlan. Thanks for not retiring just yet! I've also managed to hand out caps for all the debutants. :)

Here's the highlight. I'm still new at uploading this. Tried the highest quality (1080p) and it was taking ages. Will hopefully get better and find a good balance. It seems like every attempt also increases the number of times the logo appears in the beginning. :/

Next up - Tajikistan (114th) in the Asian Nations Cup Qualifying Group F!