Teong Kim eyes winning start for Malaysia in AFC U-16 football tournament

PETALING JAYA: National Under-16 (U-16) football squad head coach, Lim Teong Kim hopes his young charges can pull off a victory against Tajikistan in the AFC U-16 Football Championship Group A opening match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, today.

The former national player said, the victory is important to boost the morale of the players before facing 1998 champions, Thailand and two-time winners, Japan in the second and final preliminary match at the same venue on Sept 23 and Sept 26.

“Since we playing in our home ground, surely we want to achieve our target which is qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru but I hope we can get a right start in tomorrow’s match.

“All teams in this group are vying the same target but nothing is impossible if we put up an outstanding performance,” he told a pre-tournament press conference yesterday.

Nevertheless, Teong Kim warned his side not to make the same mistakes in the tournament as in their 1-2 loss to India on July 26 and 0-4 defeat to South Korea on July 17 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

Echoing Lim’s sentiments was Tajikistan’s U-16 head coach, Rahimov Zaynidin who noted that all teams in Group A has equal chance to qualify to the knock-out stage, singled out Japan as the favourite to win Group A based on their previous track records in the biennial tournament – winning the title in the 1994 and 2006 editions.

“We have no information regarding Malaysian team but we do know about Japanese team and we have made a thorough preparation prior to the tournament by taking part in three different tournaments – two in Kazakhstan and another one in Serbia,” Rahimov told via interpreter.

Meanwhile, Japan’s U-16 head coach, Yoshiro Moriyama is taking a safe approach, saying that other teams are capable of winning the tournament other than his charges who comprised mostly of new faces.

“Like the Malaysian coach said, every team in this group has the same chance to advance to the next round, but the pitch condition and also the weather plays a key factor in the match,” Moriyama said and added that he had brought new six to seven players to beef up the young Blue Samurai squad for the tournament

Sixteen teams are taking part in the tournament with the best four teams, qualifying for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru. — Bernama