Coach Kim Swee looks for a fruitful debut in AFC Under-23 tourney

PETALING JAYA: National Under-23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee is bullish about his side’s chances in the 2018 AFC Under-23 Championship in China next year.

Kim Swee’s men have been drawn in Group C with three Middle East sides – Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan – for the championship, which will be held in Changsu, Suzhou, from Jan 8-27.

A top two finish in the group will guarantee a quarter-final spot.

The former international has picked 2013 champions Iraq as the favourites in the group but believes that his side have an equal chance of making the quarter-finals.

“Iraq are the favourite because they are always good at the youth level. But the gap in age group tournaments is not big although we are from South-East Asia,” said Kim Swee after the draw in Changzhou, China, yesterday.

“You can see from the group that we have three Middle East teams and they have been playing against each other most of the time in their region.

“The draw also gives us a slight advantage because we will have to prepare against teams who play a similar type of football.”

The national team are set to hold their centralised training camp in December and expected to leave early to acclimatise to the cold weather in Changsu, which is around 4°C-12°C.

Debutants Malaysia qualified for the Finals after finishing top of their group ahead of Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia in the qualifying round in Bangkok in July.

Kim Swee said that he would be looking for a positive outing despite this being their first appearance in the tournament.

“It’s going to be tough no matter which group we are put in. There’s no such thing as an easy group here,” said the Melaka-born coach.

“The experience that the players can gain from playing in this tournament is vital and we want to go as far as we can.”