PETALING JAYA -The warm up match against world number 177 Cambodia tomorrow, will serve as a good opportunity for the Harimau Malaya trainees to prove their understanding on the coaches’ strategies and gameplay.
The national team striker Darren Lok said, apart from gaining game time and display their performances, tomorrow’s friendly at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium is the best platform to showcase their ability to deliver the tactical masterpiece planned by Kim Pan Gon and team.
“Tomorrow’s game is about performance and making sure we all understand the way the coaches want us to play. It is important we follow the instructions on the game models from coaches, of course we always want a positive result, but our performance is more important in this match.
“We will do our best tomorrow, fight for the country and hopefully give a good performance. in every game Malaysia play, we want to come out (to be fielded) and make the country proud,” he said at the pre-match press conference here, today.
The 31-year-old, who is set to join Sabah FC next season from Petaling Jaya (PJ) City FC, admitted that some new faces and youngsters require more time to adapt to Pan Gon’s style, compared to those who have been in the training camp previously.
Darren, is among the first batch to join the training camp on Nov 29, while seven Selangor and two Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) players reported to the camp three days ago, after their club duty in the Malaysia Cup final on Nov 26.
Pan Gon, in the same press conference, said the coaching team wanted to see consistency and the level of tactical understanding among his charges, including the ‘Malaysian DNA’ in the warm up matches against Cambodia and Maldives next Wednesday, ahead of the AFF Cup scheduled from Dec 20 to Jan 16.
Meanwhile, Cambodian skipper Choun Chanchav believes the Angkor Warriors will be able to challenge Malaysia, who are ranked 146th in the world.
“Tomorrow will be a big game for us. We know Malaysia are a good team traditionally, but not too much of difference between us.
“We can give a good challenge. This is also a good opportunity for our players to prepare before the AFF Cup,” the 23-year-old said. – Bernama
