SUBANG JAYA – Bahrain are aware of the difficulty of playing against Malaysia in their 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers match tomorrow night despite being placed much higher in world rankings.
Bahrain chief coach, Helio Sousa admitted Harimau Malaya are a quality side and therefore his squad, also known as Dilmun’s Warriors, need to be more cautious and not take Kim Pan-gon’s boys lightly.
He said the level of difficulty is further influenced by the opponent’s home ground advantage and their vociferous fans at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, who can be intimidating.
“The Malaysia team at this moment is much stronger than ever with good quality players and about being ranked high above, we are aware of that and would prepare the best we can to have the best condition to be near to the winning.
“Our team may be higher in ranking but theoretically they (Malaysia) are a strong team… They are taking advantage of playing at home. Because of the environment created by fantastic fans can help boost Malaysia to be much stronger,” he said in a pre-match media conference here today.
At the same time, Sousa was also impressed by the national team in maintaining its rhythm for a good 90 minutes in the 3-1 demolishing of Turkmenistan in the opening match on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Bahrain striker Kumail Alaswad who scored in the match again Bangladesh also expects today’s game to be challenging.
He however puts his target to collect three full points despite facing the pressure of local supporters.
“We expect a strong game in front of a bigger crowd tomorrow at the stadium but we have prepared very well, and the team is ready to get three points to top the group,” he said.
Malaysia and Bahrain have now collected three points each to be at the top of Group E after winning their respective opening matches, with Bahrain beating Bangladesh 2-0 on Wednesday.
Only the group champion and the best five runners-up would qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup final round. – Bernama, June 11, 2022
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