KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) midfielder Natxo Insa has gotten a second chance to prove himself in the national team following his disappointing performance at the 2023 Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar early this year.
The 38-year-old player has been included in the list of 26 players called up by national head coach Pau Marti Vicente for centralised training ahead of two Tier One friendly matches this month.
"Based on the list of players called up, Pau Marti has retained 20 out of 26 players from the squad who went to Auckland, New Zealand for the centralised training camp last October,” the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said in a statement today.
The six new players are Insa, Haziq Nadzli (Perak FC), Ubaidullah Shamsul Fazili (Terengganu FC), Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi (Selangor FC), Sergio Aguero (Sri Pahang FC) and team captain Dion Cools who plays for Thai club, Buriram United.
Insa earned two caps with the Malaysian team, playing in a friendly in March 2018 and the 0-1 loss to Bahrain in the 2023 Asian Cup group qualifiers, where his uninspired performance was criticised by fans for being unable to bring any impact to the team in midfield.
Malaysia will play Laos in PAT Stadium, Bangkok on Nov 14 before flying to India to play against the Indian team at Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Nov 18.
The team will be undergoing two-day training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya from Sunday before departing for Bangkok on Tuesday (Nov 12).
Vicente also named 10 players on standby should there be any changes to the line up.
The following are the 26 players called up for the Harimau Malaya centralised training camp starting Nov 10:
| Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed | JDT |
| Matthew Davies | JDT |
| Muhamad Feroz Baharudin | JDT |
| Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi | JDT |
| Romel Morales | JDT |
| Natxo Insa | JDT |
| Muhammad Safawi Rasid | Terengganu FC |
| Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid | Terengganu FC |
| Safwan Mazlan | Terengganu FC |
| Muhammad Azam Azmi Murad | Terengganu FC |
| Muhammad Ubaidullah Shamsul Fazili | Terengganu FC |
| Nooa Hamzah Laine | Selangor FC |
| Harith Haiqal Adam Afkar | Selangor FC |
| Muhammad Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi | Selangor FC |
| Dominic Tan | Sabah FC |
| Daniel Ting | Sabah FC |
| Stuart Wilkin | Sabah FC |
| Muhammad Azri Ab Ghani | Kuala Lumpur City FC |
| Paulo Josue | Kuala Lumpur City FC |
| Muhammad Haqimi Azim Rosli | Kuala Lumpur City FC |
| Mohamed Syamer Kutty Abba | Penang FC |
| Muhammad Adib Abdul Ra’op | Penang FC |
| Muhammad Syafiq Ahmad | Kedah Darul Aman FC |
| Muhammad Haziq Nadzli | Perak FC |
| Sergio Aguero | Pahang FC |
| Dion Cools | Buriram United |
-- BERNAMA
