Malaysia Under-23 head coach Ong Kim Swee has warned that players must perform in friendlies to earn a place in his squad for next month's AFC U23 Championship.
Ong has cut the squad from 29 to 26 players and a further three will miss out for the trip to China.
Goalkeeper Amierul Hakimi Awang and strikers Sean Eugene Selvaraj and Danial Ashraf About were the casualties following a 0-0 draw in a warm-up game with Melaka on Thursday.
The squad will travel this weekend to South Korea for a two-week training camp. It will feature friendlies against Mokpo City on Dec. 20, Jeonju University on Dec. 22 and Jeonju Citizen on Dec. 28.
And Ong insists that no one should take their place in the squad for granted as he prepares to make the final cuts, using these games to inform his decisions.
"The players have to show that they are up to the standard required to play at the AFC tournament," Ong told The New Straits Times.
"They have to get used to playing international matches even though we won't actually be playing any international games in Korea. But the games we will play are just as good as playing international matches."
While the game against Melaka may have been a friendly, Ong made it clear that places are up for grabs based on what he sees in the practice games.
"I have quite a few forwards and midfielders in the squad and I will have to cut one defender, one midfielder and one forward after this," Ong said.
"We still have a lot of areas to work on after the Melaka match, there is no one specific part of the team. The friendly matches will help me to improve the weaknesses we have identified."
Malaysia kick off their AFC U23 Championship campaign in Changshu with a match against Iraq on Jan. 10. They then face Jordan and Saudi Arabia as they bid to progress from a challenging group.