Hodak hard to please despite victory over Timor Leste

PETALING JAYA: National coach Bojan Hodak is still not pleased with his charges despite their 3-0 win over Timor Leste in their Group A match of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under-19 Championship.

Striker Akhyar Rashid opened the scoring in the eighth minute before two second-half goals from midfielders Nurfais Johari (56th) and Saiful Iskandar Adha Saiful Azlan (90th) sealed full points at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon last night.

The win was Malaysia’s third win a row and they now top the six-team Group A with nine points. Thailand are second on goal difference.

Croatian Hodak said his team were slow in finding their rhythm in the match.

“We were too relaxed in the first half and gave Timor Leste too much space. In the second half, Timor Leste couldn’t keep pace with us and we scored two more goals to win the match,” said Hodak.

“We were tactically disciplined but we switched off a few times. That’s normal with a young team. Our attack is also far from fluent but it’s expected as we only trained together for two weeks.

“I shouldn’t be complaining because we’ve won our last three games – 4-1 (Laos), 3-1 (Singapore) and 3-0 (Timor Leste). This team has the potential to be better.”

Malaysia’s remaining matches are against Cambodia tomorrow and Thailand on Tuesday.

Malaysia are using the tournament to prepare for the AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers in South Korea from Oct 31-Nov 8.