ISKANDAR PUTERI: National winger Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid (pix) is on “cloud nine” after scoring two goals in two important victories for the Harimau Malaya in the FIFA international matches window here.
Muhammad Akhyar said that the feeling of satisfaction was because he rarely got the chance to play and thus did not have the opportunity to show his true potential.
“For me, for these two matches, because I rarely get to play (so) I am very satisfied with two goals in two matches. For the next match I will do better, I don’t think I played very well in these two matches but I tried do what I could.
“I am touched, thanks to the whole team for giving me encouragement even though I rarely get to play, but that’s all I can do, I give 100 percent in the game,“ he said when met after the Tier 1 international friendly against Hong Kong here, last night .
In the match, the 24-year-old Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) player was one of the scorers besides Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim to help Malaysia record a 2-0 victory.
The former Kedah player before that had emerged as the hero of the national team which beat Turkmenistan 1-0 after scoring the winning goal at the same venue last Thursday.
Commenting on his level of fitness and ability to maintain pace every time he is called to don the national jersey despite rarely playing, he said that one of his secrets is taking care of eating and drinking, in addition to admitting that the lack of minutes of playing time was factor for him to be not very fit.
“I take care of what I eat and drink, I am not fit enough due to not enough minutes (of playing time) but I try to do well in training,“ he said.
He said the situation he was facing at the moment did not discourage him at all.
Muhammad Akhyar has not managed to break into JDT’s main eleven in their five Super League 2023 matches so far, only coming on as a substitute in the Southern Tigers two wins over Negeri Sembilan and Kelantan respectively. –Bernama