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SEPANG – The defence and attack departments are among the two elements that will be given special attention in the national team’s preparations ahead of the 2023 Asian Under-20 Cup (U-20) Qualifiers scheduled to take place in Mongolia, this September.
National Under-19 (U-19) squad head coach Hassan Sazali Mohd Waras said the two areas still had room to be improved upon to ensure that his men were able to display their best in the qualifiers.
He said the improvements were needed based on the performance shown by his squad during their campaign at the just-concluded 2022 Asean Football Federation (AFF) B-19 Championship.
“There is still room for us to improve ahead of the Asian (U-20) Cup ... in the defence and attacking departments because there will be back-to-back games similar to this AFF tournament.
“I need to make sure the team has balanced players in every position with the strength of the main eleven not much different from the second team,” he said when met by reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here, yesterday.
Last Friday, the national U-19 squad emerged champions of the 2022 AFF U-19 Championship after defeating Laos 2-0 in the final at Stadium Candrabhaga Patriot in Bekasi, Indonesia.
For the record, this is the second time Malaysia won the tournament after the 2018 edition when the team was coached by current Kuala Lumpur City FC coach Bojan Hodak.
On the U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers, the 56-year-old coach said the centralised training camp was expected to start at the end of August, and according to initial plans, he wants Malaysia to play in at least two friendly matches abroad before the campaign in Mongolia.
Hassan Sazali, who was the assistant coach when Datuk Ong Kim Swee handled the national U-19 squad from 2016 to 2017, also hinted that he would retain the existing squad for the action in Mongolia.
“Maybe we will arrange two friendly matches before going to Mongolia. If possible on the way there (Mongolia), we will stop in South Korea to play with their clubs or national team,” he said.
Hassan Sazali said the target was to ensure that Malaysia were able to get through the qualifying round by being among the top five runners-up to book a ticket to the finals next year.
In the qualifying round, Malaysia are drawn in Group E with 12-time champions South Korea, Sri Lanka and the host team to grab a spot among the 10 group champions and five best runners-up to the finals scheduled for March next year. – Bernama, July 18, 2022
