KUALA LUMPUR — The head coach of the men’s deaf national football team, Muhammad Haris Lajid, has urged his players to stay focused after their recent drubbing against Germany in their second group match in the Men’s World Deaf Football Championship.
Haris said his players should stop being overconfident and work on improving their flaws if they hope to qualify for the next stage of the tournament.
“My players lost focus today (yesterday), and too many silly errors were the reasons behind our heavy defeat.
“The players had only a day of rest, and I believe that the tight schedule is also one of the reasons behind their poor performance,” Haris said.
The coach admitted that it was tougher for his charges to compete against a stronger opponent who was physically superior to the Malaysian team.
“Honestly speaking, playing against Germany was even harder compared to our first game against the United States of America.
“Our opponents this time were physically stronger, and we could not match their strength.
“Moreover, our players were overly enthusiastic about scoring goals as soon as possible, and they are not adept at retaining their positions.
“Our chances of qualifying for the next stage are very slim, but we will try to do better in our next game. I will probably change the team’s formation and hopefully achieve a decent result against Egypt,” Haris added.
At the same time, Germany’s head coach, Frank Zurn, remained modest and praised the Malaysian team for putting up a good fight throughout the match.
“Malaysia played a very good match, and I’m impressed with the players’ mentality to win.
“I just found out that most of the Malaysian players are actually futsal players and they are not that accustomed to field games.
“I wish them all the best, and we in Germany will try to maintain our winning momentum to progress further in this tournament,” Frank said.
Malaysia has been placed in Group A alongside the United States, Germany, and Egypt in the fourth edition of this tournament.
Currently, Malaysia sits at the bottom of the group after losing 8-0 to Germany yesterday.
In their opening match on September 23, Malaysia narrowly lost 3-2 to the US. — September 26, 2023.