The fine performances of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam in the Asian Games augur well for Southeast Asian football.
The three nations topped their respective groups and they will be Asean’s hope in the last-16 stage. Malaysia, who won Group E following wins over fancied Kyrgyzstan and South Korea, will face former champions Japan on Friday.
Indonesia takes on the United Arab Emirates while Vietnam, who beat Japan, Pakistan and Nepal to top Group D, face Bahrain.
Other Asean countries who did not qualify for the next stage also did decently with the exceptions of Thailand who did not make it to the last-16 for the first time in 24 years.
Myanmar was unlucky not to progress despite a 2-0 upset win over Iran in Group F. All teams in the group finished level on four points but Myanmar has placed the bottom of the pool on head-to-head.
Malaysia youth coach Ong Kim Swee said Asean teams have made the region proud with their impressive results.
“Asean teams are coming up and they have shown here that they are almost on par with Middle East sides. The goal of every Asean country must aim is to be better than teams from the Middle East. From there, we can progress further,” said Kim Swee in Jakarta as quoted by nst.com.my.
“Overall, as a coach of an Asean nation, I am very happy with what we have done here in the Asian Games.”
On the last-16 match against Japan, Kim Swee said his team need to minimise mistakes in order to have any chance of upsetting the East Asian side.
“Japan is a very good team. They have a good combination and I believe their players have been together for a long time.
“It will not be easy as Japan has always done great things in international tournaments, so we need to be at our best for this game,” said Kim Swee.
Kim Swee gave eight fringe players a chance to play in the 3-2 defeat to Bahrain in their final Group E match on Monday.
“One or two of them did not show the needed commitment in the match. I will monitor the players in training and only pick the best against Japan,” he said.
A Malaysian player, who did not want to be named, expressed his disappointment for not being fielded.
“I will only field that player if I do not have any other choice. I will gauge everyone and only pick those who show positives,” the coach added.
sources:Â nst.com.my