Hodak hoping to surprise favourites
Under-19 coach Bojan Hodak hopes his side will be competitive enough to produce a decent show at the AFC Championship in Indonesia on Oct 18Nov 4.
Malaysia are gunning for a top two finish in Group D, also comprising Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and China, for a quarter-final spot.
“We are among the lowest ranking teams in the competition, so it will be a difficult assignment.
“However, we should be happy that we are not in the same group with teams like Japan, South Korea and Australia, and this factor probably gives us a fighting chance of going far in the tournament.
“Saudi Arabia were runners-up in the 2016 edition while China will likely be good as they have invested a lot on youth development. Tajikistan are new but they showed their mettle by overcoming Uzbekistan to qualify for this tournament,” said Hodak.
The 47-year-old’s 27-member squad, comprising President’s Cup and Youth Cup players, gathered for centralised training last weekend at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya.
The Croatian did not include his top players as they have commitments with their respective Super League and Premier League teams.
He will drop four players before they leave for Bangkok for training-cum-friendly matches on May 29-June 5.
“Our rivals should be wary of us as we have improved tremendously.
“Last year, our team only had Kedah’s Akhyar Rashid playing in the Super League, but today we have about 11 players in the MLeague. It shows progress,” Hodak added.