Ten U-16 Squad Players Have Potential To Play For Harimau Malaya In Five Years - Dollah

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- Although they failed to qualify for the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, several players from the national Under-16 (U-16) squad have shown bright potential to be nurtured up to the senior level (Harimau Malaya), according to team manager Datuk Dollah Salleh.

Dollah, who is also the Vice President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), said at least 10 players from the young national squad have the potential to wear the senior team jersey within the next five years.

“I can see that at least 10 players from this U-16 squad, I guarantee at least 10 of them will continue to develop. I myself have discussed with the coach and stressed that these players should not be only for this tournament.

“...and after that, they move on to the U-17 squad and then to clubs, and we no longer monitor them. Therefore, we are working to ensure that these players, especially those 10 individuals, are not wasted,” he said when met here today.

Commenting on the overall performance of the national U-16 squad, the national football legend said the team this time has several players with good individual skills but still lacks chemistry as a cohesive unit.

“Overall, the players are good, but on the decisive day against Vietnam, they looked chaotic, perhaps due to the players' lack of chemistry because we made many changes.

“Maybe it was a miscalculation, where we played well but we constantly rotated players, constantly made substitutions, and the team chemistry wasn't visible there,” said the Deputy Chairman of the FAM Technical and Development Committee.

The national U-16 squad failed to qualify for the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup after finishing second in Group C of the qualifying campaign with 12 points, behind Vietnam who emerged as champions with 15 points.

In the campaign, Malaysia lost 0-4 to Vietnam in the final group match, which was also the decider for the champion, after having earlier secured four impressive wins against the Northern Mariana Islands (13-0), Hong Kong (1-0), Macau (5-0), and Singapore (2-1).

Earlier, Dollah attended as a special guest at the press conference for the 2025 Datuk Chu Ah Nge International Youth Football Tournament here today.

The 19th edition of the tournament, which will take place from Dec 5 to 7, will feature 100 teams from various age groups from Singapore, Maldives, Indonesia, Nepal, and Malaysia.

The champions of each age category, namely Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, and Under-16, will be given the opportunity to participate in an academy-organized tournament in Singapore for free in April next year.

-- BERNAMA