Focused: The national players listening to instructions from their coaches during a training session. — FAM
PETALING JAYA: Heads were hung low for the first two days after a 0-4 thrashing by Jordan on Sunday, but the smiles are back in the national football team despite mounting pressure in the Asian Cup.
The Harimau Malaya have had five days of training and are fresh as they look to produce a better result in their second Group E match against Bahrain at the Jassim Hamad Stadium in Doha today.
But the odds are stacked against Kim Pan-gon’s boys as their world No. 86 opponents are of similar physique and style of play as Jordan, ranked No. 87 in the world.
Bahrain, led by Spanish coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, who won the Copa America with Chile in 2016, are looking to bounce back after their earlier 1-3 defeat to tournament favourites South Korea.
The side known as the Dilmun Warriors played well in that game despite the defeat and may even pose a stronger challenge compared to Jordan.
Pressure is indeed on Malaysia following the team’s poor performance against Jordan.
Striker Darren Lok said the team were ready to embrace the pressure to perform.
“We know how important this match is. We need to win to have a chance to get into the last 16. There is pressure in every game,” said the 33-year-old.
“The loss to Jordan has increased the pressure for this match but we are ready to correct the things that went wrong.
No time to rest: Darren Lok (right) passing the ball at a training session in Doha. — FAM
“It won’t be an easy game as Bahrain are strong opponents, like Jordan. But we just have to keep believing in our abilities because we have had results against good opponents before.
“We know people expect a lot from us but we have improved as a nation and our results have been good recently. It’s indeed a huge responsibility and honour to don the national colours.”
Darren has played against Bahrain before when Malaysia took them on in the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, which was held in Kuala Lumpur two years ago. Malaysia lost 1-2 but played valiantly and earned praise from many.
With that in mind, he hopes for another strong showing.
“When we played Bahrain before, we took the lead but they came charging back. We have to believe that we are good enough to get a better result,” said the Sabahan.
“The results in the past against higher ranked teams were no fluke, so we know what we are capable of. We go into this next game with confidence.”
