The 47-year-old former Malaysian international has called upon 17 players - who played in the AFC U23 Championship China 2018 - to return to the fray, as well as Baddrol Bakhthiar, Aidil Zafuan and Rizal Ghazali as the team’s overage players.
The tournament allows three overage players to join the squad of 20 to compete, which means Ong would have to trim down four players from his provisional announcement.
Ong believes his three experienced footballers would serve a crucial role in the midfield and in the defence but has full confidence in his budding talents to make no mistakes in the final third.
“For the quota of overage players, I see Bakhthiar as a versatile, experienced player who can play in different positions, while Aidil is an accomplished defender who has vast experience and good leadership qualities that will serve the team well,” said Ong.
“Rizal, on the other hand, is just as experienced and can play well as a right-back or wing-back.
“I did not call up overage players for the forwardline because I believe upfront we’ve got good, capable, young players who can shoulder the attacking responsibility.”
The squad will report for duty on July 30 and will travel to Changzhou, China PR for a friendly match against China’s U-23 team on August 5. The Young Tigers will then go up against Saudi Arabia at home on August 9 for a final warm-up before setting off to Indonesia.
Provisional Squad
Haziq Nadzli, Ifwat Akmal Chek Kassim, Khatul Anuar Md Jalil, Dominic Tan, Adam Nor Azlin, Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak, Rizal Ghazali, Matthew Davies, Irfan Zakaria, Syazwan Andik Ishak, Rodney Celvin Akwensivie, Syazwan Zaipol Bahari, Tommy Mawat Bada, Syamer Kutty Abba, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Nor Azam Azih, Faisal Abdul Halim, Danial Amier Norhisham, Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat, Safawi Rasid, Syafiq Ahmad, Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak, Jafri Firdaus Chew, N. Thanabalan
Source: the-afc.com