KUALA NERUS – Malaysia’s 4-1 victory over a higher-ranked team, Solomon Islands in a Tier 1 international friendly match last night was not good enough for the national team head coach Kim Pan-gon.
Apart from the unnecessary mistakes that punished his side early in the match, the South Korean coach also seemed a bit frustrated when the Harimau Malaya squad failed to record a big win in front of about 12,000 fans who flooded the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium, here.
“It was a nervous start but I’m happy that the players had very good reaction before halftime.
“I think we deserve to win but in terms of scoring I think it should have been more than four...but I’m happy that we maintain our winning run at home,” he told a post-match press conference here, last night.
Pan-gon said the team’s failure to take advantage of every goal-scoring opportunity throughout the match did not mean his players were not clinical enough.
The world’s best players are also bound to make similar mistakes, Pan-gon said.
“This must be improved but for a national team, it’s not easy, in a few days (training camp) who can improve this part? We can’t but at least we invited high-quality and top players here. I think they need to play regularly in their club to get used and come here with a good game,” he said.
Pan-gon admitted that one of the positive aspects shown by his team was the determination to keep creating opportunities despite facing opponents’ negative football approach.
“But when we have the chance, we have to put the ball in, otherwise when we face a strong team and miss such kind of chance, definitely we will suffer,” he said.
In last night’s action, Malaysia was stunned by Raphael Lea’i’s opening goal in the 11th minute before scoring four goals through Paulo Josue (40th minute), Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi’s penalty (first-half injury time), Muhammad Safawi Rasid (77th minute) and Lee Tuck (injury time of the second period).
The win marks Malaysia’s third consecutive victory in international friendlies after having beaten Turkmenistan 1-0 and Hong Kong (2-0) in March this year.
Meanwhile, Solomon Islands coach Felipe Vega-Arango of Spain admitted the quality of the players was the difference between the two teams.
“The difference between amateur and professional players is too big...I think for us it was a good test but there’s a lot to improve especially in Solomon football if we want to play this kind of game more,” he said.
Malaysia will take on Papua New Guinea also in a Tier 1 international friendly match here, next Tuesday while Solomon Islands scheduled to play Singapore away this Sunday. – Bernama, June 15, 2023
