NATIONAL TEAM'S FITNESS BOOSTED WITH DUNCAN'S APPROACH - LAINE

JOHOR BAHRU, March 22 (Bernama) -- Harimau Malaya midfielder Nooa Laine admitted that Dr Graig Duncan has helped improve the team’s fitness during the national squad training sessions ahead of the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Nepal at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Iskandar Puteri, near here, on March 25.

The heritage player said Duncan as head of High Performance and Sports Medicine for the national team is an innovation for the national squad because previously there was no expert to analyse each player's data in terms of fitness quality.

“I think, it is a new thing for us. We're doing wellness medical check-up every morning to see the fitness of players and I think it really helps us to know what we should do in training and how we can improve our fitness and everything,” he said at a press conference here today.

On the training session, the Selangor FC player said players have been adapting well to national head coach Peter Cklamovski’s tactical approach.

“The last four days have been really good, really exciting. I think the training intensity level is very high and the coach and coaching staff really helped us to get to the next level and I've really enjoyed it so far,” he said.

On the game against Nepal, he said the South Asian team should not be underestimated even though Harimau Malaya had previously defeated them 5-1 in a friendly match.  

“To be honest, I don't know that much yet (about Nepal) but I think they're playing against Singapore today. So, it is an important match for us to see how they play and prepare ourselves,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said the game against Nepal would be an important game for Harimau Malaysia to kickstart the Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign.

“We have to secure a winning start at home in the campaign,” he added.

After Nepal, Malaysia will face Vietnam on June 10, Laos (Oct 9 and Oct 14), Nepal (Nov 18) and Vietnam (March 31, 2026).

-- BERNAMA