When you see the Md. Noor brothers on the football field, you are likely to do a double take. That because, Muhammad Noor Hariz and Muhammad Noor Haris are identical twins! The duo from Seremban, Negeri Sembilan are currently competing in the 2016 edition of the Allianz Junior Football Camp (AJFC) Malaysia League as part of the NS Soccer Kids team.
The 15 year olds were inspired to start playing football seriously at age 13 after watching identical twins and fellow Negeri boys –Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak and Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak who currently play for Johor Darul Ta’zim and for Johor Darul Ta’zim II respectively. The SMK Tengku Ampuan Durrah students now hope to emulate their hometown heroes by playing for their home state as well.
“We peaked later than others I guess as we only started getting serious about football when we were in Form One after watching Aidil and Zaquan. They’re both skillful in their own right. The difference between them and us is that Aidil is a leftback and Zaquan is a forward while we both play in defence. But its nice to have players to look up to and we hope we can map out a similar career to theirs. Our aim is to at least play for Negeri one day,” said Noor Haris, the younger twin who plays at leftback.
On 2 April 2016, the League’s South Region competition got underway at Kompleks Sukan Hang Jebat, Malacca. The six-week league runs at 3 other different locations simultaneously- Central Regions, Northern Region and East Coast Region. After the sixth week, the regional selection panel will select the top 18 players from each region to form four regional teams. These teams will then compete in the National Finals at UKM, Bangi on 3 and 4 June 2016. Following the Finals, the top-13 players will be selected to attend AJFC Asia Camp in Bali, Indonesia from 19-21 July 2016. From the Asia Camp, the best three Malaysian players will attend AJFC in Munich, Germany in 25-30 August 2016.
“We didn’t hear about this tournament until this year, so we were quite excited to get the chance to compete. There’s nothing like playing with your brother and we’re happy we get to share this experience as we do everything together,” said Noor Hariz, who is a rightback.
“We’re focused on the same goals and gaining valuable experience and improving our skills. The playing field is quite level, there are a lot of good talents here so getting selected to represent our state at the National Finals will be the icing on the cake,” chimed in Noor Haris.
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