Eagles to kick off pre-season with top-quality Malaysian friendlies

As part of the Eagles’ preparations for the new season, the squad will travel to Malaysia for a 13-day training camp.

There will be four opportunities for Head Coach Noor Ali to see his side in action before the Singapore Premier League season-opener clash against Tampines Rovers on Feb 25.

Geylang International’s pre-season schedule includes two highly-competitive matches in the Piala Harapan 2023 hosted by Penang FC at their home ground Batu Kawan Stadium from Feb 1-4.

The mini-knockout tournament also features two top Malaysia Super League sides – Selangor FC and KDA FC (Kedah).

The Eagles’ first test will be against Penang, who were last year’s FA Cup semi-finalists.

If they advance, Noor’s boys will face the winners of the other semi-finals with the prospects of hoisting their first trophy of the season on Feb 4- albeit an unofficial one.

The losing sides will do battle in the playoff for the third spot.

Both Selangor and Kedah have been among the top-performing teams in the M-League scene in recent years.

Selangor had finished second to the all-conquering Johor Darul Ta’zim in the Malaysia Cup last year while Kedah were twice runners-up in the Malaysia Super League in 2020 and 2021.

A day later, Noor’s men will jet off to the Malaysian capital where they are set for a clash against the Kuala Lumpur City FC (on Feb 8.

KL City FC is known for their fairy-tale run to the AFC Cup final last year before going down 3-0 to Oman’s Al-Seeb.

The week of intense work will conclude with a trip to Kota Kinabalu where they will face Sabah FC on Feb 11.

Sabah are another highly-rated outfit fresh off an impressive third-place finish in the league last season, earning them qualification to the AFC Cup.

Noor has no doubts that all four matches will benefit his side.

“We’re looking forward to the pre-season campaign in Malaysia. After several weeks of training, it’s time to put the team to the test,” said Noor.

“We could not ask for a better pre-season fixture and a shout-out to the management for lining up the team up with four very high-quality friendly matches.

“The fact that we got invited to play against the top M-League sides speaks volumes about Geylang International’s stature.

Ends.