Tengku Abdullah wants best players fielded against Chelsea FC

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah wants Harimau Malaya head coach, Datuk K. Rajagopal to field the 'best of the best' 11 players in the match against English Premier League club, Chelsea FC at the Stadium Shah Alam, tomorrow.

He said this was because the match would be the last platform for the existing team before facing Bahrain in the third match of Group D of the Asia Cup 2015 qualifying rounds, in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 15.

"I hope Rajagopal will field players who are considered as the top eleven. We have had enough experiments, thus we want them to be compatible with each other this time because the important match (Asia Cup) will be held soon. Let's make this match as as a careful preparation and as though it is the last," he told reporters at the handing over of business zakat (tithe) by seven corporate bodies, here last night.

Before meeting Bahrain, the national squad will first have friendly matches with three clubs in Japan from July 23 to Aug 1 and later face Spanish giant, Barcelona FC at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Aug 10.

"We want to see our defence line throughout the match as well as the capability of our strikers in the first and second half," he said.

Chelsea, also known as The Blues, began their 2013/14 pre-season tour in Asia by beating Thailand's Singha All-Star XI, 1-0 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Wednesday.

The team under coach Jose Mourinho will be in Malaysia until July 23 before moving on to Indonesia to conclude their tour where they will meet the Indonesian XI for the 'Piala BNI' at Stadium Bung Karno in Jakarta.

Asked on the call by many Malaysian football fans for Rajagopal's services to be terminated as he failed to guide the national squad to a higher level, Tengku Abdullah said the matter would be looked into later.

"We don't want to disturb his concentration now because the Asia Cup qualifying round is his Key Performance Index (KPI)," Tengku Abdullah added.