Europe plans for Hodak’s boys
TRAINING stints in Europe and friendly matches against Middle East teams are among the plans for Bojan Hodak’s boys before the Asian Under-19 Championship in Indonesia on Oct 18Nov 4 next year.
Malaysia, who finished second behind hosts South Korea in Group F of the qualifiers in Paju, made the cut for the tournament proper as one of the five best group runners-up after results in other pools favoured Hodak’s side.
The results of the Under-19 side are remarkable as Hodak only took over the team in mid-August from scratch.
Prior to the AFC qualifiers, the team finished runners-up to Thailand in the AFF Under-18 Championship in Myanmar in September.
Hodak and his players only knew about their Asian qualifications success in the wee hours yesterday.
“I went to sleep early. I woke up in the middle of the night and checked the results, and I was really happy,” said Hodak yesterday.
“We did not react to the good news as everyone was sleepy. But we woke up in the morning feeling very happy.”
The Croat said he will draw up a programme for next year’s challenge soon. “For the next 12 months, we will need to do some camps and organise friendly matches against good teams.
“When I met FAM president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim recently, he told me that maybe the team can go to Europe for matches and also play Middle East sides.
“The players need to play against better teams for experience as it will help them build character, confidence and also enhance their quality.
“The 3-0 defeat to Korea on Wednesday is a good learning curve. When you play a top team, you will only have two or three chances to score and if you do not take them, then your opponent will punish you.
“We had three chances against Korea but we could not convert them and instead they took their chances,” said Hodak.
When asked why he said Malaysia were 10 years behind South Korea in the Under-19 level, Hodak said players in that country are exposed to proper training and quality competitions from the age of seven.
“It is the same in Europe and that is why we are behind the top teams. In Malaysia, the first proper tournament for the cream of the crop is the Youth Cup (Under19). We need to create a good base here.
“There are many areas my players need to work on. They have good quality but they must head to the next level by improving tactically and technically. We also need to learn how to cope with the pace in high intensity matches.
“In the Korea match, we were not far behind in terms of pace but they were physically superior. It comes from years of quality training from the age of seven.” Ajitpal Singh