Uphill task for Malaysian women in AFC U-19 meet
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia have an uphill task in the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Under-19 women's football tournament.
They have been drawn with defending champions Japan, Vietnam and Myanmar in Group A of tournament, scheduled to be held in the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi in China from May 26 to June 6.
Team manager Tunku Ellie Badariah Tunku Ahmad said they were in the toughest group and would face tournament favourites Japan in the 16-team tournament.
The Malaysian team are currently in centralised training in Sabah under coach Zhang Hong from China
“Most of our women players come from Sabah. So, we have decided to make our training base in East Malaysia,'' said Tunku Ellie.
The Ladies Football Association of Malaysia (LFAM) appointed Zhang Hong to handle the national team for the Vietnam SEA Games last year. They surprisingly qualified for the semi-finals from Group A, which was won by Vietnam.
But it was a total disaster in the semi-finals as they were routed 0-8 rout by eventual champions Myanmar. In the playoff for bronze, the Thais whipped them 6-1.
In the U-19 tournament, the format of the competition sees the top two teams from each of the four groups advancing to the quarter-finals. Only the finalists will then join hosts Thailand in the second FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in Bangkok from Nov 10-28.
The other teams in the competition are Taiwan, Singapore, India, Hong Kong (Group B); China, South Korea, Guam, Philippines (Group C); North Korea, Nepal, Thailand and Uzbekistan (Group D).
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