Zainal Abidin urged caution in making substitutions

LUMPUR: Former national ace Datuk Zainal Abidin Hassan hopes Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan Gon will be more cautious in making substitutions when they take on South Korea in their final Group E match of the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar on Thursday (Jan 25).

Zainal Abidin said Malaysia could ill-afford a similar mistake after what happened against Bahrain on Saturday (Jan 20).

He said that in the match against Bahrain, Pan Gon’s decision to replace Syamer Kutty Abba with Natxo Insa backfired and saw the momentum shift to the opponents, allowing them to nick a late goal for a 1-0 win.

“Maybe Pan Gon brought Insa on to control the game, but it did not work out as planned and Bahrain started pressing us. So, that must be taken as a lesson.

“But credit to Pan Gon. Malaysian football has been left behind for so long but in about two years he has transformed the team,†he said when met by Bernama at Wisma Bernama here. On Saturday, Malaysia went down 1-0 to Bahrain in their second Group E match at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, thus dashing their hopes of making the last 16. The Harimau Malaya had earlier lost their opening game 4-0 to Jordan on Jan 15.

Meanwhile, Zainal Abidin has called on the national players to be highly disciplined and avoid making mistakes against the South Koreans, who play a fast and high-intensity game.

“We will be playing against a no-nonsense team who take every chance that comes their way. We must realise that against South Korea, if we make five mistakes, chances are they will score four times. We must understand that discipline is extremely crucial and we cannot afford to lose possession,” he