By Prashant Kharbanda & Keeshaanan Sundaresan
Felda United head coach Irfan Bakti believes that Datuk Ong Kim Swee made a mistake by opting to not hand Hadin Azman a national call-up for Malaysia’s matches against Saudi Arabia and Macau.
The Felda winger has been in imperious form this season, though his exclusion from the national squad did catch a lot of people by surprise, including the 22 year-old himself.
But while he missed the initial list, there were calls for him to replace Chanturu, who was dropped due to injury. But OKS opted to call-up JDT’s Nazrin Nawi; effectively snubbing Felda’s shining star.
“Hadin has worked so hard for Felda this year and he’s even scored three goals for us. He definitely deserves a spot,” Irfan told FourthOfficial.com
“Maybe it’s because Ong doesn’t know him well enough. Perhaps he wanted to stick with the bunch of players he’s familiar with.
“But I suppose it’s not a big deal since it’s just Malaysia. If it was Japan, England or Germany, that would be a different story,” he added.
Hadin first broke into the scene with JDT in 2012-2013, though he struggled to make an impact with the Southern Tigers. He subsequently left and joined Felda United in 2015, where he has flourished impeccably. And according to Irfan, Malaysia has got an upcoming star in Hadin.
“He’s definitely an upcoming star for Malaysia. But right now, he’s got to continue working hard and keep his head focused on football. As they say, you can put your head up high but your feet must always be on the ground,” the 64 year-old added.
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