A sign of progress
Winning U-19 tournament augurs well for Malaysian football
PETALING JAYA: National coach Bojan Hodak heaped praises on his players’ progress as they finally landed the elusive Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under19 championship.
The national team edged Myanmar 43 in the final at the Gelora Joko Samudro Stadium in Gresik, Indonesia, on Saturday and qualified for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under19 championships in October.
Hodak said it was the bestever achievement for a national Under19 side.
He said the man behind the team’s success was the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) former president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim but hopes new president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin and new Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman would continue to be supportive.
“We finished second last year and are the champions this year. It’s the best results in this age group,” said the Croatian coach yesterday.
“We qualified for the AFC cham pionship and that speaks of the team’s immense potential.
“A minimum of fourtoeight players in the team have the potential to be in national squad one day but how they will develop further depends on their work in their clubs.”
“Tunku Ismail hired my staff and I and gave the full support. FAM’s new president and the new Sports Minister were at the stadium to support us which is great.”
In the final, Malaysia took the lead through Awang Muhd Faiz Haziqq Awang Fathi (third minute) and Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat (19th) but Myanmar wrestled back the lead through Win Naing Tun (24th) and Myat Kaung Khant (27th and 31st).
But a barnstorming performance in the final 20 minutes of the match saw the team make a comeback through goals from A. Shivan Pillay (76th) and Nik Akif (93rd).
“It was a very exciting match for fans but not for coaches because the players made lots of mistakes,” said the 47yearold.
“We made mistakes and conceded three goals. Fortunately, we dominated the game in the second half.”