KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia are aiming to progress to the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar in January next year, said head coach Kim Pan Gon.
The 54-year-old South Korean said to qualify for the knockout stage of the prestigious Asian football tournament has always been Harimau Malaya’s real target.
However, Pan Gon said his side first needs to realise where they stand compared to 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.
“We will try our best, we want to give good games, win, qualify (round of 16) and bring glory to Malaysia but I think we must (do it) step by step,” he said when asked if he already had a specific aim for the 2023 Asian Cup, recently.
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 in four games since last 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, who will be making their first appearance since the 2007 edition, are drawn in Group E alongside two-time winners South Korea, Jordan and Bahrain in Qatar with the champion and runner-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 ranked 27th, Jordan (84th), Bahrain (85th) and Malaysia in 138th position.
Malaysia have never made it past the group stage in a total of three appearances in the Asian Cup, namely in 1976 in Iran, 1980 in Kuwait and when they were co-hosts in 2007. – BERNAMA
