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FAM president wants team to dream big

FA of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Amin has reminded the national youth players not get overconfident in the Asian Games following their impressive performances in the group stage.

Malaysia have achieved FAM’s last-16 target after wins over Kyrgyzstan (3-1) and South Korea (2-1) in Group E with one match to go against Bahrain today.

Ong Kim Swee’s side will top the group regardless of the results in today’s matches as rankings (if equal on points) are based on head-to-head.

They will face Group D runnersup Japan, who lost 1-0 to Vietnam yesterday, in the last-16.

The national body now want the team to dream big by aiming for the quarter-finals, which they have not achieved since the 1978 Bangkok edition.

Hamidin said: “Who knows... maybe the boys can bring back a medal.”

“We showed that nothing is impossible in football. We beat defending champions Korea when everyone said we would lose to them.

“However, I do not want the players to be overconfident with the results as the competition is only in the group stage,” said Hamidin.

He added: “Our players need to maintain their winning momentum and focus on getting a good result against Bahrain.

“My advice to the players is to forget about the stunning win over Korea as that is history now.

“I want the players to go far and maybe set their minds on reaching the quarter-finals first followed by the semi-finals,” Hamidin added.