Rivaldo called up by Malaysia U-21 team

The 20-year-old Sarawak President Cup defender, one of 26 players to be called up for the U-21 squad's 10-day centralised training camp, wanted to use the opportunity to do his best to continue his football career up to the national senior team.

"This is the first time I've been called for training at the national level," he said when met at the training session at Wisma FAM in Petaling Jaya on Sunday.

"The big tournament for me was the Youth Cup this year, before going to the President's Cup this season, and I have to work hard to represent the country at senior level."

When asked about the significance of his name which was the same as Brazil legend Rivaldo, the eldest of three siblings said the name was given by his parents in conjunction with the Brazilian's performance during the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

"For me, this name gives me the motivation to create a name like Rivaldo in the international football arena one day. I have not had the opportunity to meet him, but I follow him on the social media, "he said.

Meanwhile, national U-23 squad assistant goalkeeping coach Yong Wai Hwang, who was standing in for head coach Ong Kim Swee and assistant coach Brad Maloney, said the 10-day training camp was a preparation for three major tournaments that the U-21 players would face: the 2018 PSSI Anniversary Cup, the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, and the 2020 Olympic Games qualification.

"During our scouting process, we listed a total of 42 players [and] the 26 players called up are the best from the list," he said.

"The main purpose of this camp is to identify core players for several tournaments over the next two years.

"They will play at the PSSI Anniversary Cup, which will be a pre-Asian Games tournament [from April 27 to May 6] against Indonesia, Bahrain and North Korea.

"We are giving chances to players who have never been called up for the national U-23 team to impress and stand a chance to play at the Asian Games."