KUALA NERUS: The Solomon Islands head coach Felipe Vega-Arango wants his team to showcase that the country’s football level has improved, by putting up a polished display when facing Malaysia in a Tier 1 international friendly at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium here, tomorrow night.
The Spaniard said his team was ready to face a tough fight against the Harimau Malaya squad coached by Kim Pan Gon although both teams are having a significant difference in terms of the number of professional players in the squad.
“We are here to compete, we are here to try to do good, it’s a good opportunity for the players and team to show that the football in Solomon Islands is improving.
“We will prepare the best team and make sure the players take advantage of this opportunity against Malaysia which is a fully professional team. We only have one professional player...I hope we can do a good job here,” he said during a pre-match press conference here, today.
He said that he had studied and has all the information about Malaysia, thus expecting his team which is not used to playing at night, to face a difficult time here.
He said the world ranking also does not give any meaning and admitted that Malaysia was in a different class after playing more matches against the best teams in the Asian zone.
“I’ve been watching all their (Malaysia) matches, I know it’s going to be a high paced game, I know they have fast players, so I told my boys it’s going to be an extremely tough match...we are also not used to playing at 9 pm and about ranking it’s not realistic, Malaysia plays the toughest teams, Asia is much harder than Oceania.
“For me Malaysia is the favorite to win tomorrow, it’s pretty obvious they play at home and have a professional squad, but I hope we are competitive enough to give them a good challenge so we can play this game in the future again,” he said.
Meanwhile, midfielder Joses Nawo who set foot in Malaysia for the first time is excited to play tomorrow night and admitted it will not be an easy match.
“This is my first time in Malaysia, I’ve been in Singapore to play friendly matches against them, but this is my first time here, I think the game is going to be tough,” said the Solomon Islands’ Kossa FC player.
Tomorrow’s clash at Terengganu FC’s home ground is the first meeting between the two teams.
Based on the world ranking, Malaysia is ranked 138th while the Solomon Islands is ranked 134th. - Bernama
