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ou know that Malaysia’s striking stocks are low when a 19-year-old, with only a handful of professional goals, and a newly arrived recruit from English non-league soccer, are talked about as future national team stars.

March’s 0-0 draw with Southeast Asian part-timer Macau in a home friendly exposed just how desperate the situation has become. Malaysia’s last five internationals have produced only two goals and it has failed score in eight of 13 matches, dating back to the start of 2015.

Its impotency upfront saw the 2010 Southeast Asian champion exit early from 2018 AFC World Cup qualifiers, with only one victory in eight matches.

So, ahead of next week’s 2019 AFC Asian Cup playoff against Timor-Leste, head coach Ong Kim Swee drafted in unproven Penang teenager S. Kumaahran and considered the possibility of fast-tracking English-born Darren Lok into the squad.

Twenty-five-year-old Lok, whose father is from Malacca, is training within the second team of Malaysia Super League champions, Johor Darul Ta’zim.

Later this week, he’ll be at Immigration headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to finalize paperwork for a Malaysian passport that would allow him to play in June internationals for his adopted country.

Already, Australian-born former A-League players Brendan Gan and Matthew Davies are regulars in the national squad, along with Junior Eldstal, a midfielder of Swedish and Malaysian heritage, who grew up in the UK.

While there is no lack of talented attacking players in the MSL, the most prolific strikers tend to be foreigners, such as JDT’s Argentine striker Juan Martin Lucero or Felda United’s Liberian marksman, Francis Doe. Of the 15 top scorers in the 2016 season so far, only two are Malaysians.

Since 2012, Lok has been plying his trade for Eastbourne Borough FC in the National League South, the sixth tier of English soccer. His day job is a support worker at Hellingly Centre, a psychiatric facility in East Sussex.

But for the last two weeks, Lok has stepped into the world of professional soccer as he trials with JDT II in the hope of earning a contract in Johor, or elsewhere.

“The attention I’ve received since arriving in Malaysia, and the talk of the national team, is flattering, but I can take nothing for granted,” Lok told ESPN FC.

“I’ve got to find a club first and then prove that I am worthy of a place in the national team. I’m just here to work hard and play football. Just because I’m from England means absolutely nothing.”

Kumaahran received his first senior cap from previous national coach Dollah Salleh last August when he came on as a late substitute in a friendly against Bangladesh.

Diminutive yet quick and technically gifted, he’s scored only two goals in 10 MSL games for the struggling Penang side this season.

But coach Ong knows him from their time together at Harimau Muda, Malaysia’s developmental team.

“I believe that by giving him an opportunity to play he could be our future striker,” Ong told ESPN FC.

“I’m looking at him to play alongside Hazwan [Bakri] and Amri Yahyah, where, definitely, he can gain a lot of experience. We have an Oceania trip coming up and probably he will get a chance to play in one of those games.”

His contemporaries Safee Sali, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Indra Putra Mahayuddin are no longer regulars in the national setup, but 35-year-old Amri remains the most valuable member of Malaysia’s forward line.

More a winger than a striker who scored twice against Manchester United in a 2009 friendly, Amri is one of only a few survivors from the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup-winning squad, and the side which overachieved to make the 2014 final, losing to Thailand.

But Selangor’s Hazwan, who scored 25 goals in just 28 matches for the national U23 team, could be the next big thing, according to national teammate Brendan Gan.

“We need someone to lead our line and that’s been a concern for the national team for a while now,” Gan said.

“But we have players who are coming though now, like Hazwan, who’s scoring for Selangor and playing in AFC, so hopefully he can bring that international experience to the national team.”

Malaysia faces Myanmar in a friendly in Yangon on Saturday night before the two-legged AFC Asian Cup playoff against the Timorese on June 2 and 6 at Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru.

Johor is the new base for Lok, a dedicated Manchester United fan who hopes to realize his dream of playing professional soccer and representing the country of his father, Albert, who immigrated to England as a teenager.

“I haven’t had any contact with national coach but I know that they’re happy with what they’ve seen so far at Johor,” he said. “I prefer to play down the middle but can also do a job out wide. I’ve got to take nothing for granted. I’ve just got to show what I can do.”
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Jason Dasey is senior editor of ESPN FC, Indonesia’s most popular English language soccer website with a Southeast Asia edition and a daily Bahasa Indonesia TV show on NET. Twitter: @ESPNFC_ID