Malaysia receive positive draw for AFC U-19 C’ship

PETALING JAYA: The National Under-19 team coach Bojan Hodak believes his side have a good chance after receiving a positive draw for the AFC Under-19 Championship in Indonesia from Oct 18-Nov 4.

Malaysia are drawn with Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and China in Group D.

The top two teams from the group will advance to the knockout stage and the top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the Under-20 World Cup in Poland, next year.

Hodak’s boys finished second in Group F in South Korea last November to qualify as the fifth

best runners-up from 10 groups in the qualifying rounds for the AFC Under-19 championship.

The Croatian coach said they are in a tough group but compared to the other groups, they might have a chance.

“We will have tough matches but compared to Groups B and C, we have it a bit easier but Group A is definitely the easiest,” said Hodak after the draw in Indonesia yesterday.

“I think we can fight and give a tough time to the other teams in the group.

“If we prepare well, we definitely have a chance of making it to the knockout stage.”

“We need to believe in ourselves, our boys have confidence after qualifying for the tournament but we need to get them to be better.”

Hodak, who is in the midst of preparing the Under-19 team’s second stringers for a tour in Bangkok, will rejoin the team in Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya today. The team will report for training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya tomorrow before flying off to Bangkok on May 29 where they are scheduled to play three friendly matches in a week before returning home on June 5.