Expect tough battle, North Korea warn Malaysia
BURIRAM: North Korean coach Jorn Andersen has warned Malaysia not to look too much into their 0-5 drubbing by Lebanon in their Asian Cup Qualifier encounter in October and to be prepared for a tough match today.
The Norway- born coach said the defeat was due to his players having a bad game and he was confident the humiliation would not repeat when they face Malaysia.
“The 0- 5 defeat to Lebanon was because the players had a bad match, but we have been preparing for the match against Malaysia for three times (due to postponement) and we will get the desired result,” he said at a pre-match press conference at the i-mobile Stadium yesterday.
He said due to the lengthy postponement, the team had been spending a considerable amount of time training, watching videos on games involving Malaysia and studying their tactics to prepare for the match.
Andersen believed that his players would be ready for the game.
His player Kim Yu- song, who was also at the press conference, echoed his coach’s assessment of today’s match, saying the North Korean players were ready for Malaysia.
After being postponed three times since late March, the Asian Cup Qualifier match between Malaysia and North Korea will take place over two legs (second leg on Monday) at the stadium, located more than 300km northeast of Bangkok.
The match had been postponed due to souring diplomatic relations between Malaysia and North Korea following the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged halfbrother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at KL International Airport 2 ( klia2) in February.
The postponements were also due to tensions in the Korean Peninsula af ter Pyongyang launched ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, Malaysia coach Nelo Vingada said it would be a mistake to take North Korea’s challenge lightly just because the team suffered a blip against Lebanon in their qualifier last month.
The North Koreans, according to him, are undoubtedly a good team with their world ranking higher than Malaysia.
“It will be a hard match for us. They have several players who are based in Europe and Japan but football is a team sport.
“We have prepared ourselves and we want a win tomorrow and will work hard to ensure luck is on our side,” he said.
Malaysia, he said, had been playing good and the unfavourable results in the qualifier did not portray the true picture of the team’s capabilities, adding that the difference between Malaysia and other teams had narrowed.
The Portuguese coach also said that the short training period his players had prior to today’s match would not have any bearing on their performance against the North Koreans and believed they were motivated to score a good result.
Currently, Malaysia are at bottom of the group with a point, while North Korea are placed above them.
Group champions Lebanon have already qualified for the Asian Cup. — Bernama