KUALA LUMPUR − Harimau Malaya head coach, Tan Cheng Hoe, has acknowledged that the challenge of traditional enemies, Indonesia and Cambodia, should not be taken lightly in the Group B competition of the AFF Cup 2020 tournament, which begins on December 5, 2021 and ends on January 1, 2022.
Apart from world’s 95th-ranked team, Vietnam, who are in a class of their own, and preparations for the 2022 Qatar World Cup well underway, Tan said he would not underestimate the capabilities of neighbours Indonesia (175) and Cambodia (178) in the team’s pursuit of the group’s top two positions to advance to the semi-finals.
“Vietnam are the favourites in the group but what is important for us is to take one game at a time. And at the same time, we are not just focusing on Vietnam alone, but also Indonesia, who are our traditional enemies.
“We are also not taking Cambodia lightly because they have talented players. We must focus on one game at a time,” he said through a video recording shared by the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) yesterday.
In an online draw, 2018 runners-up and world’s 154th-ranked team, Malaysia, was drawn into Group B along with defending champions, Vietnam, as well as Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos (186).
Group A comprises the most successful teams of the championship: five-time winners, Thailand (122), Myanmar (146), Philippines (125) and Singapore (160) as well as the winners in the qualifying round between Brunei (190) and Timor-Lester (194).
Commenting on this year’s format, which will be held as a carnival at a yet-to-be-decided central venue – due to the Covid-19 pandemic – Tan admitted that preparations needed to be more vigorous because of the absence of home-ground advantage.
“The 2018 edition was a big motivation for the players because there were two matches at group level, where they played on home-ground advantage, and two away games. Despite playing in a carnival format, we need to focus on each game and on team preparation,” he said.
With only two more months before the tournament begins, the coaching team will continue to monitor the players’ performances with their respective teams during the Malaysia Cup 2021 campaign, besides two Tier 1 international matches early next month.
‘At the same time, we must also monitor the progress of other teams. We hope the players called up for national duty this time will give their best for the national squad,” he said.
In the last tournament, Malaysia defeated Cambodia 1-0, Laos 3-1 and Myanmar 3-0 but lost 0-2 to Vietnam in Group A before defeating Thailand in the semi-finals – according to the away goal rule – when they were tied 0-0 at Bukit Jalil and drew 2-2 in Bangkok.
However, the Harimau Malaya squad lost 2-3 on aggregate to Vietnam in the finals, after tieing with the Golden Dragon 2-2 at Bukit Jalil and losing to the team 0-1 in Hanoi.
Since the biennial tournament began in 1996, Malaysia has won once in 2010 under coach, Datuk K. Rajagopal, and emerged as runners-up three times in 1996, 2014 and 2018.
Only four countries have emerged champions multiple times, with Thailand winning in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2014 and 2016, followed by Singapore with four championships (1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012) and Vietnam with two (2008 and 2018). – Bernama, September 22, 2021
