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KUALA LUMPUR − New Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan-gon arrived in Malaysia from South Korea on Friday evening and is currently undergoing quarantine, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar said.
The 52-year-old arrived with his coaching line-up − goalkeeping coach Cho Jun-ho, Dr Gokhan Kandemir (fitness coach) and Lim Jaehun (analyst) − while Spanish assistant coach Pau Marti Vicente has yet to arrive as he had to undergo quarantine in his country.
“Pan-gon has started undergoing compulsory quarantine at a hotel, which is expected to end if the test for Covid-19 on the fifth day is negative,” he said when contacted today.
Saifuddin said FAM would hold a media conference as soon as the quarantine ends to introduce Pan-gon officially to local football fans.
At the media conference, Pan-gon is expected to lay out his plans for the Harimau Malaya squad and announce the opponents selected for friendlies during the FIFA window from March 21 to 29.
Prior to this, Saifuddin said six countries had shown interest to play against Malaysia ahead of the third round 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in June.
Regarding the local assistant coach position after FAM had previously shortlisted two candidates, he said Pan-gon would decide on the matter soon.
Pan-gon is also expected to meet with FAM president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, technical director Scott O’Donell and Saifuddin after coming out of quarantine.
The former Korean Football Association (KFA) national team director was appointed to replace Tan Cheng Hoe, who resigned last month after taking responsibility for the national team’s failure at the AFF Cup in Singapore last December.
Pan-gon’s first duty would be to observe the performance of the players in the 2022 Malaysia League competition, which is scheduled to start at the end of this month, before handling the national squad’s centralised training camp in March.
He will then lead the national squad through the third round 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in June and try to end nearly half-a-century of waiting for Malaysia to qualify on merit to the final round of the continental-level championship. – Bernama, February 13, 2022