What a bashing! The national Under-19 squad, who are preparing for the AFC Championship, were handed a lesson in football by Super League side PJ City FC in a closed-door friendly at the Plus Mini Stadium in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday.

K. Devan’s side hammered Brad Maloney’s young guns 6-1 with goals from Mahali Jasuli (37th minute), R. Kogileswaran (45th and 60th), Washington Brandao (47th), Yugan Poobathy (85th) and Jeremy Lim (89th).

Fakrul Iman Naszari responded for the Under-19 side, who were without striker Luqman Hakim Shamsudin, in the 51st minute.

Luqman flew to Belgium yesterday to join First Division A side KV Kortrijk yesterday.

Although the result may worry fans, Maloney is unperturbed as he was only using the friendly to assess his squad and to test tactics.

Maloney’s side will play in the AFC Under-19 Championship in Uzbekistan in October.

“Overall there were more positives than negatives. There were some good transition plays,” said the Australian.

“We knew it would be a demanding match against an experienced opponent. Of course, we need to work on several aspects.

The Under-19 squad will play Premier League’s Selangor II in a friendly next week.

Meanwhile, the M-League will restart as scheduled on Aug 22 without fans.

This was confirmed by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday.

“The decision was taken after taking into account the advice from the Health Ministry, and the organiser must ensure that all the guidelines are complied with,” said Ismail.