National U-18 squad for exposure tourney in Japan
PETALING JAYA: National Under -18 ( U-18) squad head coach, Bojan Hodak has urged his boys to put up their best performance in the 2018 Sanix Cup from March 15-18 in Fukuoka, Japan as he now is preparing the best team ahead of two major tournaments in July and October.
The Croat ian- born coach said the main target of four- day tournament was to give young players international exposure before stepping into bigger tournaments such as the 2018 Asean Football Federation (AFF) U-18 Championship in July and the 2018 Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) U- 19 Championship in October.
“This tournament is actually for our boys to get international experience. The aim is to see the team’s future...to see how many of them have the potential to play in AFF U-18 in July as well as AFC U-19 in October. In Japan, there are three top Japanese youth development teams in our group so it will be good for the boys to play at that level.
“I don’t set high target at the Sanix Cup as it is the squad’s debut, I just want them to perform well and we will have the chance to play five strong matches so it’s good for them, for their future,” he told reporters at Wisma Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in Kelana Jaya here, yesterday.
Apart from Malaysia, other countries taking part are Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan as well as several local clubs there.
Malaysia have been drawn with three local clubs namely Tokio FC, Maebashi Lukei and Ohzu in one group before the top two teams qualify for the next stage. — Bernama