KUALA NERUS, 20 Jun -- Pemain Malaysia, Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim (tengah) meraikan jaringan bersama sepasukan pada perlawanan Persahabatan Antarabangsa Tier 1 antara Malaysia lawan Papua New Guinea di Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin malam ini. Keputusan tamat perlawanan Malaysia 10-0 Pupua New Guinea. --fotoBERNAMA (2023) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian football team are targeting a huge breakthrough in the Asian Cup in Qatar in January next year.
Coach Kim Pan-gon is aiming to guide the team into the last 16 in Doha.
The 54-year-old South Korean said to qualify for the knockout stage of the prestigious tournament has always been Harimau Malaya’s real target.
However, Pan-gon added his side first need to realise where they stand compared to the other teams at the moment.
“What I’m saying (is that the) Asian Cup is not an easy, easy, easy stage. There are teams better than us. Everybody must be ready for this, in any situation we must be united, encourage each other and encourage our players, this is important,” he said when asked if he had a specific aim in mind for the 2023 Asian Cup
“We will try our best, we want to give good games, win, qualify (for round of 16) and bring glory to Malaysia but I think we must (do it) step by step.’’
Pan-gon said his squad will play against stronger teams starting in September after defeating the Solomon Islands 4-1 and Papua New Guinea 10-0 in Tier 1 international friendlies in Terengganu recently, thus extending their winning record to four games since March.
He said Malaysia will play a minimum of six competitive matches before going to Qatar and the opportunity will be used to do as many experiments as possible to prepare the team.
“We will try (to see) how long we can play this kind of football (team’s tactical approach) and after the experiments, we will decide how we would approach the Asian Cup,” he said.
Malaysia will be making their first appearance among the elites of Asian football since the 2007 edition where we last played by virtue of being hosts.
Malaysia are drawn in Group E alongside two-time winners South Korea, Jordan and Bahrain in Qatar with the winners and runners-up of the groups, as well as the four best third-placed teams, qualifying for the knockout stage.
Based on the current world rankings, South Korea are 27th, Jordan 84th, Bahrain 85th while Malaysia lie 138th.
Malaysia have never made it past the group stage in their three appearances in the Asian Cup, – in 1976 in Iran, 1980 in Kuwait and in 2007. — Bernama
