NO HOLDING BACK

Kim Swee: Injury and history aside, let’s just do this

NATIONAL youth coach Ong Kim Swee may need to reshuffle his team as several key players are injured ahead of today’s AFC Under-23 Championship Group C match against Saudi Arabia at the Kunshan Stadium in China.

Leading scorer Safawi Rasid, who has netted two goals, is down with a muscle strain while forward Akhyar Rashid is nursing a knee injury. Dominic Tan has a thigh problem.

Midfielders Syamer Kutty Abba and Syahmi Safari are down with fever.

Kim Swee, however, is unperturbed as he is ready to make the necessary changes if left with no choice.

“I am still not sure whether Dominic, Safawi and Akhyar will be able to play against the Saudis. We will have a look at them again tomorrow,” said Kim Swee at the Kunshan Arena yesterday.

“But we have reinforcements on the bench. All 23 players who are here are good enough to start in any match.”

Kim Swee will likely depend on forwards Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak and R. Kogileswaran in attack if Safawi and Akhyar are unavailable. Malaysia are fourth in the group with only one point but a win today will see them make the quarter-finals in their first appearance in the tournament.

Kim Swee’s side lost 4-1 to Iraq in the opening match before holding Jordan 1-1, both last week.

The former international is regarded as one of the most successful youth coaches in Malaysia having led his team to gold and silver at the 2011 Jakarta and 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games editions.

"I do not want to touch about history, I just want the players to play with passion and determination like how they did against Jordan. If we focus and play to strategy, we will have a chance tomorrow,” Kim Swee added.