Stint with QPR gives Kim Swee valuable insight
NATIONAL coach Ong Kim Swee and his assistant, Brad Maloney, have described the one-month stint with Championship League side Queens Park Rangers as insightful.
The stint has given both coaches a broadened outlook in terms of training methods and other aspects in preparing a team for matches.
QPR were gracious hosts as their manager Ian Holloway shared all aspects of his club’s training methodology from sport science applications to team training to Kim Swee and Maloney.
They were also involved in discussions and given opportunities to offer opinions.
“We have benefited a lot from the stint. It was insightful. We learnt about tactical approach before each match and also the methods used to analyse opponents,” said Maloney in Malacca yesterday.
Maloney, a former Australian international, will conduct the drills when the 23-member national squad report for centralised training at Wisma FAM tomorrow for the international friendly against the Philippines in Manila on March 22.
Kim Swee will only return to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday and take over the training drills. The coach is now in Malacca following the death of his father, Ong Chwee Guan, last Tuesday. His father was cremated in Bukit Jelutong, Malacca, yesterday.
Kim Swee received the bad news of his father’s passing when he was on transit in Dubai on Tuesday.
“Although I am sad, I will continue my duty and prepare the national team for the friendly against the Philippines,” said Kim Swee when met at his residence in Malacca.
Kim Swee added that his father was a huge inspiration to him when he took up football at the age of 13.
Meanwhile, FA of Malaysia general-secretary Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin confirmed there will be no replacement match for the postponed Asian Cup qualifying Group B game against North Korea on March 28.
“We wrote to several teams for a friendly match on March 28 but none gave a favourable reply. Kim Swee will decide when he returns from Malacca on whether the players should remain in camp after the assignment in Manila until March 28 or otherwise,” said Hamidin.