PETALING JAYA: Harimau Malaya skipper Mohd Farizal Marlias has described the national coaching team’s new approach of playing upbeat music during warm-ups before their training sessions as a positive and thrilling experience.
The Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) goalkeeper said this was something new for the national team and welcomed the move as it helped to create a more positive and conducive environment during training sessions.
“It’s an exciting thing, players won’t be so tensed during training when they hear the music blasting away... clubs also do this during activation sessions,” he said ahead of the Malaysia-Hong Kong Tier 1 international friendly pre-match press conference at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya here today.
Loud and upbeat music can be heard blasting away during the national team’s training sessions and among the genre played included K-Pop tunes of popular groups like Blackpink, Weeekly and also soloist PSY.
The Harimau Malaya, under head coach Kim Pan Gon, will take on Hong Kong at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow, having earlier thrashed Brunei 4-0 in another Tier 1 international friendly at the same venue on Friday (May 27).
The friendly against Hong Kong will be the last warm-up game before Malaysia begin their Asian Cup 2023 Group E qualifying campaign against Turkmenistan on June 8, Bahrain (June 11) and Bangladesh (June 14).
For the record, Malaysia drew 1-1 and lost 2-0 to Hong Kong in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers. Hong Kong were then trained by current Harimau Malaya coach Pan Gon.
Meanwhile, Mohd Farizal said it was important that the players carry out the game plan set out by the coaches when they take to the field tomorrow.
“I don’t want to think too much about our opponents and what happened previously. What’s important is our own preparation so that our game reflects our own DNA, with elements like domination, high tempo and high intensity,” he said.
He added that the players were not only receptive to the changes introduced by Pan Gon but also showed a high level of commitment during training sessions. - Bernama