No time to rest: Malaysia coach Kim Pan-gon (centre) observing his players during a training session in Gong Badak. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are not prominent names in the world of football but Malaysia coach Kim Pan-gon knows of their potential threat.
After all, they are no mincemeat, especially Solomon Islands, who are ranked four places above world No. 138 Malaysia in the FIFA rankings.
They are coming to Malaysia in good form as they have won their last two friendlies against Fiji (2-0) and Vanuatu (2-0).
And they have a top talent in the team, in the form of striker Raphael Lea’i, who is just 19 but has already scored five goals in just seven caps for his country.
He also plies his trade in Europe, playing for Bosnian top-flight club Velez Mostar.
As for Papua New Guinea, they are ranked 159th in the world but are known for their work rate and physicality.
Malaysia’s last game against them was in 2016, when they beat them 2-1 at the Shah Alam Stadium on Nov 14. But before that, Malaysia were beaten 0-2 at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moseby, Papua New Guinea, which drew the ire of Malaysia football critics.
Malaysia will take on the Solomon Islands on Thursday and Papua New Guinea on June 20. Both matches will be at the Sultan Mizan Stadium in Gong Badak, Terengganu.
Pan-gon hopes his boys will showcase their Malaysian DNA and maintain their unbeaten home form.
“We will be playing two Oceania countries. It’s different compared to teams from South-East Asia in terms of physical standards,” said Pan-gon.
“We want to see how much we can adapt to it, how we can dominate games and how many minutes we can be in control. It will be a good test for us.”
In March, they beat Turkmenistan 1-0 and Hong Kong 2-0. Both matches were held at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
Pan-gon wants that to continue as he wants quality practice before competing in the AFC Cup next year.
“We want to develop our tactics and DNA continuously. I want to maintain our characteristics. We want to maintain a good home run. We want to give a good performance to the Terengganu and Malaysian fans,” he said.
“Wins give us confidence. In these two games, I only want wins.”
Of his squad, out of 26, thirteen of them are from Johor Darul Ta’zim, who are currently dominating the Super League with 14 straight wins.
He is also looking forward to seeing naturalised stars like Endrick dos Santos and Paulo Josue grow even stronger in the national team.
“JDT, at this moment, have done well. They have been strong. That mood can give us good things here,” he said.
“Normally, I do not mention individuals, but these two players (Dos Santos and Josue) joined us at the last camp and impressed. Hopefully, they can adapt better and give us better performance.”
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur striker Haqimi Azim Rosli has dropped out from the training camp due to illness. The news was confirmed by Pan-gon when the team reported for training on Saturday.
