KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 – The social media was abuzz about former Belgium Under-21 international Dion Johan Cools donning Malaysia colors in the second-round World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 qualifiers from Group G in Dubai next month, but chief coach Tan Cheng Hoe is not getting distracted by the news.
The right-back whose father is Belgian while his mother is Malaysian – was born in Kuching. He celebrates his 25th birthday on June 4 – a day after Malaysia takes on the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Harimau Malaya is currently in the Middle East preparing for the second-round matches.
As part of Malaysia’s preparations, Harimau Malaya lined up two friendly matches. Malaysia played Kuwait in Dubai on May 23 and will play in a Tier 1 friendly against Bahrain in Manama on Friday. The match against Kuwait ended with a 4-1 defeat for the Malaysians.
Cools has played for the Belgium Under-18, Under-19, and Under-21 teams. He is eligible to play for Malaysia through his mother’s Malaysian roots. The defender currently plays for Danish Superliga side Midtjylland.
”There is no confirmation yet,” – all Cheng Hoe could say on the matter when contacted in Manama on Thursday where the Malaysians have set up their training base after arriving from Dubai on Tuesday.
”My focus is on the team. For other matters, I leave it to the management and FAM (FA of Malaysia) to handle.”
Meanwhile, Cheng Hoe said naturalised Malaysian, Brazilian-born Guilherme de Paula, will not feature in the match against Bahrain which offers FIFA ranking points.
Guilherme does not meet FIFA’s residential qualifications for him to play for Malaysia in the match.
The other naturalised Malaysians in the team are Gambia-born Mohamadou Sumareh and Kosovo-born playmaker Liridon Krasniqi.
Cheng Hoe will use the match against Bahrain, (ranked 99), to identify his team for the qualifiers.
In the second round matches of Group G, Malaysia kick-off their campaign against UAE on June 3 followed by Vietnam on June 11 before completing their mission against Thailand on June 15.
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