READY TO FACE TOUGH RIVALS
Raja Azlan confident his charges will give good fight against Indonesia
NATIONAL Under-16 coach Raja Azlan Shah Raja Sho’ib believes his charges are ready to face arch-rivals Indonesia in the semi-finals of the AFF Championships at the Stadium Gelora Delta Sidoarjo today.
Indonesia are seen as the favourites following a flawless record to top Group A while Malaysia finished second in Group B.
Indonesian fans taunted the team with chants of ‘Malaysia are dogs’ and ‘Amirul is a dog’ during their 2-1 defeat to Thailand on July 30.
The hostility sparked after Malaysian player, Amirul Ashrafiq Hanifah mistakenly used the Polish flag on his Instagram story before leaving for Surabaya last month. Indonesian fans felt insulted as they believed it was an inverted Indonesia flag.
Amirul, however, has already apologised for the mistake.
This is the second time Malaysia will face Indonesia in the semi-finals of an age-group competition this year.
In July, Malaysia edged their rivals 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time in the AFF Under-19 Championship, also in Indonesia.
Disgruntled Indonesian fans did not take the defeat well and hurled bottles and stones at the Malaysian players after the match.
Raja Azlan is confident his players will be focused on the task at hand despite likely to receive insults from the home supporters.
“We will play to our strength against Indonesia and I do not anticipate problems,” said Raja Azlan.
“These young players do not deserve to be treated in such a (hostile) way, we need to give them our morale support to ensure they develop well.
“However, we do not have to worry as our safety has been guaranteed (by authorities). ”
Raja Azlan admitted that Indonesia will be a stern test for Malaysia as they have scored 21 goals in the five matches they have played so far.
Malaysia had lost 2-1 to Thailand in their opening match before bouncing back with wins over Brunei, Singapore and Laos.