DOHA: Despite being the underdog, Malaysia are aiming for all three points when they play Jordan in their Group E opener of the 2023 Asian Cup at the Al Janoub Stadium here, today (Jan 16 1.30 am Malaysian time).
National Head Coach Kim Pan Gon said that apart from his team being ready, his coaching staff have all the information about the strength and weakness of Jordan, the team ranked 87th in the world, including in terms of individual quality aspects.
According to the 54-year-old South Korean coach, the excellent record achieved by Malaysia in the last 11 matches which saw the Harimau Malaya win and draw against the higher-ranked team, gives the confidence for tomorrow’s clash.
“We are fully ready for tomorrow’s game against Jordan, we want to come to this tournament as people know that Malaysia is a beautiful country, with nice and kind people living there. We can also introduce Malaysia’s strong, dynamic and energetic football.
“From last March we played 11 games and registered seven wins, two draws and one loss, against teams ranked around 90th in the FIFA World rankings. I feel this record can give us the confidence that we can play with a team ranked 87th, like Jordan,” he told a pre-match press conference here, yesterday.
Commenting further, Pan Gon said the injury problems faced by several players, including midfielder Endrick Dos Santos, did not affect the team’s plans.
“There are injuries (in the team) but we can still field a full squad for tomorrow’s game tactically, technically and strategically,” he said.
Meanwhile, skipper Matthew Davies, who is proud to represent Malaysia in this campaign, described a positive result against Jordan as very important to advance to the round of 16.
“We are not here to be defensive and negative, we come here to play good football, so we’re hoping to do just that,” said the 28-year-old defender while emphasizing the pressure factor in tomorrow’s match would be more on Jordan.
In the meantime, the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) player said the presence of some Jordanian players in the Malaysian Super League can also give the national team an advantage since their abilities are already known to the players in the squad.
For the record, Malaysia, ranked 130th have failed to record a win against Jordan in their last five matches, losing three and drawing two, with the last meeting in 2021 favouring The Chivalrous Ones’ as they scored a 4-0 win in a friendly. – BERNAMA
