THE National Juniors played three friendlies against Singapore in the
island republic last weekend and found the artificial pitch not to their
liking.
Malaysia and Singapore, co-hosts of the June 7-21 Junior World Cup,
will accommodate 10 teams each.
Singapore was supposed to host a Four-Nation to test its facilities but
could not do so and invited Malaysia instead.
"We played three matches against Singapore and the boys found the
artificial pitch a little bumpy. We won all three matches (3-1, 3-0,
1-0). It was a good experience because, if we qualify for the
quarter-finals, we might have to play in Singapore," said Juniors coach
K. Rajan.
Johor Baru will host Argentina, Belgium, Egypt, Pakistan and Russia
(Group A) and England, South Korea, Spain, US and Malaysia (Group C).
Singapore will host Australia, Chile, Germany, Japan and South Africa
in Group B. India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore are in
Group D.
The juniors are now in Johor getting a feel of the competition venue in
Taman Daya.
"It will be strictly training for us until the World Cup but we have
lined-up a friendly against Belgium on June 2," said Rajan. "Spain will
be arriving on May 29 and have requested for a match but since they are
in the same group, I have declined."
Rajan has dropped midfielder Azrin Rizal after he underwent a knee
operation, and brought in Shaheed Shah.
"I have 21 players in training and things are looking up. We should be
ready to battle for a quarter-final slot when the tournament starts."
