Khalid Ali, who represented the country in the 1970s and 80s, said those who made such decisions should be given the cold shoulder so that they would regret their action and not take their place in the national team for granted.

“I am still disappointed with the action of players who turned their back on the national team when their services were needed for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016.

“They ignored the call of duty to represent their nation,” he told Bernama here when commenting on the same four players who had indicated their wish to return to the national team.

The four players from Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) were said to be interested in donning national colours once again since Johor crown prince, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who is also the owner of JDT, is the new Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president.

Khalid said the quality of the four players – Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, Safiq Rahim, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal and S Kunalan – does not warrant a national call up since their performance has not been outstanding in the M-League in the past year.

Local media has been abuzz with news that the four players who had announced their retirement from national duty in July last year, were ready to consider a comeback.

Reports said their intention to rejoin the National team could be due to the appointment of former JDT head coach Mario Gomez as the new nationl team coach by Tunku Ismail.