KUALA LUMPUR – Former national ace Datuk Zainal Abidin Hassan hopes Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan-gon will be more cautious in making substitutions when they take on South Korea in their final Group E match of the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar on Thursday (January 25).
Zainal Abidin said Malaysia could ill-afford a similar mistake after what happened against Bahrain on Saturday.
He said that in the match against Bahrain, Pan-gon’s decision to replace Syamer Kutty Abba with Natxo Insa backfired and saw the momentum shift to the opponents, allowing them to nick a late goal for a 1-0 win.
“Maybe Pan-gon brought Insa on to control the game, but it did not work out as planned and Bahrain started pressing us. So, that must be taken as a lesson.
“But credit to Pan-gon. Malaysian football has been left behind for so long but in about two years he has transformed the team,” he said when met by Bernama at Wisma Bernama here last night.
On Saturday, Malaysia went down 1-0 to Bahrain in their second Group E match at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, thus dashing their hopes of making the last 16. The Harimau Malaya had earlier lost their opening game 4-0 to Jordan on January 15.
Meanwhile, Zainal Abidin has called on the national players to be highly disciplined and avoid making mistakes against the South Koreans, who play a fast and high-intensity game.
“We will be playing against a no-nonsense team who take every chance that comes their way. We must realise that against South Korea, if we make five mistakes, chances are they will score four times.
“We must understand that discipline is extremely crucial and we cannot afford to lose possession,” he said.
With all four teams having played two matches each, Jordan lead the standings with four points, the same as South Korea, which are second on goal difference. Bahrain are third with three points and Malaysia are last with no points.
With Jordan playing Bahrain in their final Group E match, also on Thursday, two-time champions South Korea will surely be gunning for a big win over Malaysia to advance into the last 16 as group winners. – January 22, 2024