The injured duo of Muhammad Shukor Adan and Safee Sali are expected to play some part in the first leg of Malaysia's AFF Suzuki Cup final against Thailand in Bangkok on Wednesday night.
Both experienced players have been under a fitness cloud this week. But coach Dollah Salleh says the pair has been training well after Monday's arrival in the Thai capital.
Captain Shukor suffered a back injury in the 4-2 semifinal victory over Vietnam on Dec. 11. Striker Safee missed the game after hurting his leg in training.
Shukor is expected to start at the heart of Malaysia's engine room with Safee likely to come off the bench, given the impressive recent form of fellow forwards Indra Putra Mahayuddin and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.
It means that Dollah will have a near full strength squad to choose from as his side look to continue their impressive away form at the Rajamangala Stadium.
"Hopefully, we can repeat the same feat [against Thailand]," Dollah told www.affsuzukicup.com. "Frankly, I did not expect that our boys will perform so well against Vietnam, and for me, it's a good sign for the team since we had lost to Vietnam before in their own backyard [in a pre-Suzuki Cup friendly last month]."
JDT striker Safee, who is playing in his fourth AFF tournament, said: "The morale of players is quite good although we know it will be a tough battle. Most importantly, we need to display our best performance against Thailand who were undefeated in the three preliminary matches of Group B before."
Kiatisuk Senamuang's side defeated Malaysia 3-2 in a pool match on Nov. 26, despite Harimau Malaya twice holding the lead at Singapore's Jalan Besar Stadium.
Malaysia have never beaten the War Elephants in the regional tournament. After Wednesday's first leg, they will meet in the second leg on Dec. 20 at Malaysia's National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur to decide the winners of the 10th edition of the AFF Championship.