‘KEEP A COOL HEAD’
Captain Baddrol wants composure from his teammates
BADDROL Bakhtiar has reminded his teammates to avoid confrontations and tense situations during matches at the Asian Games.
The football event will be held in Bandung.
Malaysia will open their Group E campaign against Kyrgyzstan tomorrow, followed by defending champions South Korea (Friday) and Bahrain (Aug 20).
The Kedah midfielder, who is one of the two overage players in the Asian Games Under-23 squad, has been appointed captain by coach Ong Kim Swee for the tournament.
“I want the players to learn from the ugly incident against the United Arab Emirates recently. I hope they have forgotten about it as the focus now is in Bandung,” said Baddrol.
“We need to play it cool and also not to get involved in confrontations.”
In last Friday’s friendly between Malaysia and UAE, players and officials of both teams were involved in a free-for-all in the final minutes of the match. Malaysia won 2-0.
“I believe we have a chance to earn something against Kyrgyzstan. A win will give us the confidence when we play Korea in the next match,” Baddrol added.
Meanwhile, Kim Swee wants his players to be prepared for all adversities in Bandung
The coach has prepared alternative plans in case there are eleventh-hour changes concerning training pitches and schedules.
“We need to have a Plan B and Plan C if there are changes in our preparation for the first match.” said Kim Swee before boarding the flight with his players to Bandung at KLIA yesterday.
Kim Swee has made one change to his 20-member squad by replacing midfielder Danial Amier Norhisham, who is down with a groin problem, with defender Rodney Celvin Akwensivie.
He said Danial’s absence will not affect his plans as he has able replacements.
“In our recent friendly matches against China and UAE, we did not field Danial. Only Baddrol, Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat and Syahmi Safari were tested.
“Irfan Zakaria and R. Kogileswaran are also capable of playing in midfield.”