UNSATISFACTORY DRAW
Coach Kim Swee finds plenty of weaknesses in Under-23 team’s performance despite holding Australia 1-1 in friendly
NATIONAL youth coach Ong Kim Swee did not like what he saw in the 1-1 draw against Australia in Sunday’s Under-23 friendly at the Shah Alam Stadium.
Australia took the lead two minutes before the breather through Perth Glory defender Brandon Wilson before Nik Azli Nik Alias equalised for Malaysia in stoppage time.
Both teams were using the friendly to prepare for their campaigns in the AFC Under-23 qualifiers.
Malaysia will take on the Philippines (Friday), Laos (Sunday) and China (March 26) in Group J in Kuala Lumpur, while Australia are in Group H with South Korea, Taiwan and Cambodia.
The qualifiers double up as a qualifier for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The FA of Malaysia hope Kim Swee’s team can achieve their F:30 roadmap target of qualifying for the Tokyo edition.
Malaysia must top their group to ensure reaching January’s final phase of qualifying in Thailand.
The four best placed runnersup from the 11 groups also go through, leaving Kim Swee’s side little margin for error.
“In terms of performance, we didn’t do well.
“In terms of result, it’s good when you hear we drew with Australia.
“But we still need to improve in a lot of positions, especially in terms of movement.
“We need to work harder before our first qualifying game.
“That’s why we had this game against Australia to identify our weaknesses and strengths,” said Kim Swee after the match on Sunday.
Kim Swee does not have issues in attack as he has enough ammunition in Akhyar Rashid, Safawi Rasid and Hadi Fayyadh Razak.
“Our attack is fine but our goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli needs to work harder to overcome his weaknesses.
“He is a good goalkeeper but sometimes he tends to overdo things.
“Hopefully, we can help him overcome his shortcomings,” he said.
On Sunday, Kim Swee served a surprise by fielding midfielder Syamer Kutty Abba in the heart of defence.
The Johor Darul Ta’zim player did well despite not being a natural defender.
“It was his first experience playing as a centre-back for my team, and he did really well.
“Syamer is an option as Dominic Tan is still injured.
“Defender Shahrul Nizam (Ros Hasni) also performed well today,” he added.