Kim Swee: Australia friendly good platform for newbies

SHAH ALAM: The warm- up match against the Australian Under 23 (U-23) football team at the Shah Alam Stadium this Sunday will be a good platform to test the line-up of players who have seen little action to ensure that they are at their best before the U-23 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2020 qualifying round which starts next week, said Datuk Ong Kim Swee.

The national U-23 head coach said he needs to give more chances to these players so that they would be at their best fitness level for the tournament from March 22 to 26.

“This match is not for fun. I’m going to put up the best line- up and I might need the players who have played fewer matches for the opening round of the qualifying match against the Philippines,” he said when met by Bernama at the squad’s training session at Shah Stadium Alam, Thursday night.

Kim Swee said the match against Australia would also be the gauge on the nation’s young squad’s preparations for the AFC qualifying round as The Olyroos squad coached by Graham Arnold could be regarded as one of the best teams in Asia today, following their successes over the past few years.

The Melaka-born coach believed that all 27 players called up for centralised training would not face any problems despite their involvement in other competitions including the Youth Cup, the President’s Cup and the Premier League as they were facilitated by officers from the National Sports Institute.

Malaysia, who host the Group J qualifying round, will start the campaign against the Philippines on March 22, followed by Laos ( March 24), before finishing the preliminary round against China, two days later.

Based on the championship format, the top 10 group champions and the top five runner-ups would qualify for the final round in Thailand.

Thailand as hosts qualify for the final round. — Bernama