KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has praised the fighting spirit of the national U-17 women's football squad despite their failure to qualify for the 2027 U-17 Women's Asian Cup following a 4-0 defeat to India Sunday (Oct 11) night.
The Prime Minister said their spirit, effort and courage in displaying their best performance throughout the tournament were commendable.
"Use this experience as motivation to bounce back stronger and achieve success in upcoming tournaments. Keep moving forward, Malaysia," the Prime Minister said in a Facebook post Sunday night.
Earlier, the national U-17 team's dream of creating history by qualifying for the 2027 U-17 Women's Asian Cup final round in China was dashed following the 4-0 loss to India in their final Group E qualifying match at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium.
The national squad had opened their qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win over Syria before defeating Iraq 4-0 in their second match.
Under the tournament format, the eight group winners will qualify for the 2027 U-17 Women's Asian Cup final round, joining four teams that have already secured their spots, namely defending champions North Korea, Japan, Australia and host nation China.
The tournament is scheduled to take place from March 31 to April 17, 2027. - Bernama
