Kim Swee: Difficult to assess strength of regional youth teams

It is hard to assess the strength youth teams in the South East Asians these days.

Those were the words of Malaysia Under-23 head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee (pic) who stated that teams in the region had improved a lot and no one can be labelled as favourites in the AFF Under-22 LG Cup.

“Malaysia have been placed in Group B and they kick off their campaign against hosts Cambodia on Feb 18, followed by Indonesia (Feb 20) and Myanmar (Feb 22).

“There are no favourites in this group. All the teams are capable of performing, and as you all know, youth football development in this region have improved tremendously.

“We will be facing Cambodia in the first match and it won’t be easy. Cambodia, in recent months, have seen changes in coaching and football personalities have also graced the country.

“We will be playing in front of their home crowd and it will be an interesting game for our boys.”

Kim Swee added that the team are looking for a good outing in Phnom Penh before the AFC Under23 qualifying tournament in Kuala Lumpur next month.

“Our aim is to finish well in this tournament. Winning is always important, but to us, the exposure is essential for some of the players in the squad.

“The qualifying is of paramount importance and some of the players in the squad need more international exposure to be better.”

The artificial pitch in the Olympic Stadium in the country’s capital is not a problem for Malaysia as the team have been training on the synthetic pitch at the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil.

“We can adapt to any situation. To me, the artificial pitch is not a problem at all because our players have played on it.”