National Under-22 head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee and his boys will be all out to prove themselves worthy in a friendly with the China U22 team as both sides prepare for the qualifying round of the 2018 AFC Under-23 Championship later in the year.
With China hosting the tournament proper next year with an automatic qualification already guaranteed, Kim Swee will be using the friendly today as benchmark for his boys.
Malaysia are in Group H of the qualifiers aainst Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia, Malaysia will open their campaign against Indonesia on 19 July, Thailand (21 July) and Mongolia (23 July).
“It will be an important game for us as we’re preparing for the AFC qualifiers and I believe China are preparing well as they will be the hosts for the U23 tournament next year,” added Kim Swee.
“We’ve trained for the past 10 days in Malaysia for this friendly. Under former coach Frank Bernhardt, we’ve played China before in Dubai and it ended in a 1-1 draw.
“Definitely there are changes in the team as I’ve just taken over the position. But I hope for the team to improve in every aspect from this visit.”
Kim Swee and skipper Adib Zainuddin, however, admitted that playing China is never easy especially at their home ground. The match will be played at the Xiangtan Sports Centre Stadium.
“I believe the most important things is to play to our strength. I believe my boys will give their full commitment as we will be assessing their performance. Hopefully, we will achieve a good result out of this,” explained the former international.
“I hope my teammates will give their 100% commitment to win the game and also for the coming AFC qualification,” added Adib.- BY ALVIN OH
