ERimau’s turn to eye last 16 of eAsian Cup
SEPANG: The eRimau e-sports squad aims to advance to the top 16 at the AFC eAsian Cup 2023, which will be held for the first time from Feb 1 to 5 at the Doha Festival City Mall, Doha, Qatar.
eRimau squad coach Shaharil Shaifuddin Shaharuddin said the target was considered realistic based on the current performance of the national squad when participating in the central training camp.
“Our friendly results were quite good during the previous training camp, in which we played against India and Vietnam and we won.
“For starters, we aim to get through the group stage first, then we will focus on the next stages,” he said when met at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday before departing for Doha to participate in the tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation in conjunction with the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.
Commenting further, Shaharil Shaifuddin said their main challenger at the group stage would be Jordan, but he did not want to underestimate the ability of South Korea and Bahrain.
“Jordan will probably be the strongest challenger because they have players who were world champions last year.
“But we are always positive because we will be playing in a 2 vs 2 format, instead of depending on just one individual, so chances are open for any team,” he said.
Meanwhile, national player Mohamad Nor Haikal Mohamad Noh is optimistic that positive results can be achieved with his partner Muhamad Khairul Abdul Aziz considering that they have been together for more than five years.
Malaysia will open the campaign against Jordan on Feb 1 before concluding the group E action against Bahrain and South Korea on Feb 2.
The teams that finish in the top two positions in each group, along with the four (out of six) best third-placed teams will make it to the knockout rounds.
For starters, we aim to get through the group stage first, then we will focus on the next stages.
Shaharil Shaifuddin Shaharuddin