KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya head coach, Kim Pan Gon (pix) lavished praise on his charges’ energy level en route to the 2023 Merdeka Tournament final after upsetting India 4-2 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, here yesterday.
Pan Gon said he was in awe by the work rate of his players who showed no signs of easing on the accelarator and kept running throughout the game to hunt India down in front of 46,150 jubilant fans.
“I am very happy to beat a higher ranked team like India (ranked 102). I understand the Merdeka Tournament means a lot for them (Malaysians).
“They (players) kept running and fighting in the name of the country and their family. I am very proud of my players because we must acknowledge the fact that we are the 134th ranked team in the world,” he told a post-match press conference.
The South Korean was also pretty pleased by his attacking side as they could have scored up to five goals in the opening half of the game.
However, the 54-year-old-gaffer said that while he demanded his players to deliver an entertaining brand of football to the home crowd, he concurred the fact that their forward forays had opened up some space in the defensive line which caused them to concede two easy goals, one in each half.
“We had some problems in the defensive line..If we dont take risks, the match can be 0-0. If you ask me not to concede any goals, I can pack the defensive line but we want to give some good entertaining football,” he said.
Meanwhile, India’s head coach, Igor Stimac described the game as exciting although the match was played in such a terrible pitch.
He also made some complaints following a few irritating issues that they had to face leading up to the opening game of the iconic tournament such as the late arrival of the bus, bad pitch quality in their training ground and match.
On midfielder Lallianzuala Chhangte’s disallowed goal in the 56th minute, the former West Ham United player however, refused to comment on the controversial decision made by referee Mongkolchai Pechhri even though the ball had already crossed the line before it was cleared by Malaysia’s centreback, Dion Cools.
In the meantime, Stimac took the opportunity to congratulate Malaysia for qualifying to the final and was impressed by the fantastic atmosphere from the fans in the National Stadium.
Malaysia will play Tajikistan in the final on Tuesday after the opponent received a ‘bye’ following Palestine’s withdrawal due to a tense situation in their country at the moment. -Bernama