Winning the AFF cup is the target, Malaysia’s head coach says ahead of semi-final clash with Thailand

PATHUM THANI, Thailand: Malaysia national head coach Kim Pan Gon admitted that winning the 2022 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF Cup) remains his important target with the Harimau Malaya squad.

That was acknowledged by Pan Gon ahead of the clash against defending champions Thailand in the 2022 AFF Cup semi-final second-leg match at the Thammasat Stadium for a place in the final.

The 53-year-old South Korean coach, who was appointed in January last year, said if Malaysia made it to the finals this time, it would be an honour for him to make the country’s football fans happy, before going on to challenge for the title against Vietnam.

“Personally to me the AFF Cup is a very interesting tournament. When I was in Hong Kong and South Korea it’s was very interesting to watch this tournament. When I became Malaysia’s national team head coach, to be champion is one of the main targets.

“This is one of the important targets for me, so if we go to the final it will be a great honour for me and the Malaysian football fans,” he told a pre-match press conference in on Monday.

Despite being grateful with the 1-0 win victory at home last Saturday, Pan Gon said his players must always focus and be aware of the capabilities of the War Elephants squad, especially when playing on their own turf.

However, he said his squad was physically and mentally prepared for Tuesday’s match.

“We have a good advantage but we are fully aware that away games are very tough, however we are mentally and physically well recovered and prepared for (Tuesday’s) game. All are ready and full of confidence to play against Thailand, we want to have good result,” he said.

Meanwhile, midfielder Stuart Wilkin said the team cannot just play defensively, but instead need to find an early goal to keep pressuring the opponent.

“Coming to this game we know it’s not going to be easy playing away in Thailand against the good Thailand team but of course we are looking for goals to pressure them, it’s gonna be a challenge but something that we have to do,” said the 24-year-old Sabah FC player.

The victory at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday saw Malaysia extend their unbeaten record against Thailand to six matches after winning two and drawing three in their previous meetings since 2018.

POLKING’S CONFIDENCE REMAINS INTACT

Meanwhile, Thailand head coach Alexandre Polking believes his team is capable of turning the tables on Malaysia.

Despite expecting Malaysia to come up fiercer in Tuesday’s clash, Polking said his team has a clear target to reach the final and will make sure that becomes a reality.

He said the advantage of playing in front of own supporters will motivate his men to carry out the mission of defending the title that they won in the last edition.

“We believe that this is a new game, we are expecting a stronger Malaysian team than what they performed at their home, this is 180 minutes game, we played 90 minutes and they are leading 1-0 but we are playing at home now.

“We will have our fans on our side – I’m sure they will push us and I believe we can revert that one goal disadvantage we have now,” he said during a pre-match press conference on Monday.

The 46-year-old coach of Brazilian-German parentage said: “We will perform the same we performed two days ago, if we can repeat that I believe that we are going to the final.”

However, he expressed hope for a good quality of refereeing in Tuesday’s match, especially from the aspect of giving extra time after claiming that the referee did not give an appropriate period during the semi-final first-leg at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last Saturday which saw them lose 0-1.

In fact, he personally felt that Malaysia’s second goal scored by Dominic Tan in the match should have been allowed.

“This is a big issue (referee quality) and I already talked with several people, with our manager to at least try in the meeting to mention to the referee that we expect a higher standard. I’m not crying around … we want to play football and all fans here to see that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand captain Theerathon Bunmathan thanked the local fans after the match tickets were sold out and hoped to celebrate a positive result together at the end of the match.

“We are fully focused at the moment and we hope that we will celebrate together with the Thai fans tomorrow and to the final together,” the 32-year-old defender said.