Malaysia U-19 coach Bojan Hodak has urged senior team colleague Nelo Vingada to pick young players for international assignments.
“I think the biggest problem Vingada is having is that he expects more from his national players. But instead, he has to work on some basic things with them during centralised training,” Hodak told Timesport on Monday, one day ahead of the Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong.
“I believe it is better for him to take young players because they would listen more in both matches and training.
“He can develop these youngsters and help them improve in all aspects. If you depend on seniors, sometimes they do not want to follow as they are already near the end of their careers.
“They are only interested in earning high wages and they do not really want to improve,” Hodak added.
Having lost their opening match to Lebanon and only scheduled to play North Korea – the strongest team in the group – next month, Malaysia desperately need three points in Melaka against minnows Hong Kong.
Hong Kong held Singapore to a 1-1 draw in the build-up friendly to this qualifier while Vingada’s side lost to Syria and Myanmar.