We will not take any matches lightly, says Kim Swee
PETALING JAYA: National Under23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee (pic) will embark on another mission to create history when the Malaysian team kick off their Asian Games Group E campaign against Kyrgyzstan at the Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung today.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have set a target of finishing in the top 16 out of 25 teams in the competition, although the team have to deal with tough matches against defending champions South Korea and Bahrain in the group.
The top two teams from the six groups and four best third-placed teams will advance to the last 16.
Malaysia have won the Asiad bronze medal twice in Teheran 1974 and Indonesia 1962 when it was a competition involving senior teams.
But since the tournament turned into an Under-23 competition with three over-aged players in 2002, Malaysia’s best achievement is reaching the last 16 under the guidance of Datuk K. Rajagopal in the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad.
Coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee’s men had created history by finishing in the top eight in the AFC Under-23 championship in China in January.
The team have shown improvement since the 2-1 loss to China in a friendly on Aug 5 and the 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates (UEA) in their final warm-up match in Shah Alam last Friday.
Kim Swee said the team are well prepared for their opening match after two weeks of centralised training and he will field his strongest line-up for the match.
“This is an important game where we need to field our best players. There’s no such thing as taking it easy because all the matches in the group are important,” said the former international from Bandung yesterday.
“I have analysed some of their previous matches so I know their strength.
“We know that Kyrgyzstan play like Uzbekistan, their players have good technique and have the quality.
“We can’t look down on them because they play in a competitive league.
“We want to win all of the group matches, I don’t set a target of just getting points from matches,” he said.