NO SHAME IN LOSS
‘Players forgot they were playing against South Korea’
THERE is nothing the national youth players need to be ashamed about after their 2-1 defeat to South Korea in yesterday’s AFC Under-23 Championship quarter-final match at the Kunshan Stadium in China.
Ong Kim Swee’s boys displayed great fighting spirit in the match but the Koreans were better in ball control and possession.
Korea took the lead through Cho Jaewan just 15 seconds into the match before N. Thanabalan equalised with a header in the 67th minute. But the East Asian team secured victory through Hang Seung-gyu goal in the 85th minute.
Kim Swee hopes his charges will learn from the defeat.
"Overall, the players did the best they could but the Koreans were slightly better. They did not really panic when we scored the equaliser. They played patiently and scored the winner in the closing stages.
"Korea’s first goal was a result of poor decision making. But apart from that mistake, we controlled the first half.
“My players performed better than they did in the win over Saudi Arabia and this shows we are making progress,” said Kim Swee.
Kim Swee reminded his players that they need to strive for better performances in the future.
"It is a very good achievement but we cannot afford to be too happy about it.
“When we return to Kuala Lumpur, we will analyse all the matches in the competition and work on new systems of play for greater consistency.
“We have players with talent. They were confident today and made it tough for Korea. My boys were neither intimidated nor overawed by their opponents,” he added.
Korea coach Kim Bong-gil admitted that his players had to play patiently and conserve energy to end Malaysia’s run here.
"Malaysia are a good team, and I am thankful to the players because they managed to win. I was worried about their physical and energy levels, but we managed to play well and win,” said Bong-gil