Up for the challenge: Safwan Mazlan says he is looking forward to the SEA Games despite Malaysia being in a tough group.
PETALING JAYA: Young defender Safwan Mazlan is game for a robust approach to counter their opponents in the SEA Games in Cambodia.
The 20-year-old Terengganu player, who can play as a centreback and leftback, is looking forward to performing under coach E. Elavarasan who is trying out different ways to achieve better results in the regional Games.
The football competition started with the group stage on Saturday and Malaysia will play Laos in Group B at the Visakha Stadium on Wednesday.
The others in the Group of Death are Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.
Malaysia’s last appearance in the men’s football final was at the home Games in 2017, where they lost 0-1 to Thailand.
In the SEA Games in Hanoi last year, then-coach Brad Maloney relied on a cautious approach to get the results and the team did well to reach the semi-finals before losing to Indonesia in the bronze-medal playoff.
Safwan wants to do better in his second SEA Games.
“There is a difference in the style of coaching between coach Brad and Ela. We, as players, just have to adapt to the different coaching systems,” said the lanky player, who stands 1.84m.
“Coach Ela likes to build up from the back. So we have to be playing the ball all the time. For players, it’s normal, we have to be agile.
“As professionals, we have to be adaptable to every tactic. We can’t be picky about it.’’
Safwan believes the SEA Games this year will be even more challenging, especially in the group stages.
“Our path in the group is tricky because we will be facing Vietnam, Laos and Singapore but the players are in the right spirit and are determined to go beyond the semi-finals.”
