Kim believes he can take Malaysia to Asian Cup Finals

PETALING JAYA: Bring on the challenge.

Malaysia’s newly appointed national football coach Kim Pan-gon (pic) is optimistic that he can take Malaysia to the AFC Asian Cup Finals in China next year.

This is despite Malaysia being drawn in the same Group E with Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh for the AFC Asia Cup qualifiers in June in Uzbekistan.

Kuala Lumpur will host the Group E matches with the Harimau Malaya side opening their campaign against Turkmenistan on June 8.

Malaysia are currently ranked 154th while Turkmenistan are the world No. 134.

Malaysia will next face what will probably be their toughest side in world ranked 89th Bahrain on June 11 and followed by Bangladesh, ranked 186th in the world (June 14).

The group winners and the five top second-placed teams will confirm their places for the Finals in China.

The Finals in China will see 24 participating nations including defending champions Qatar.

It will be the first big test for former Korean Football Association (KFA) team director Pan-gon, who took over the top post from Tan Cheng Hoe last month, but said the national team should be driven by the motivation of playing on home soil.

“Honestly, it’s not a fantastic draw but it could have been tougher,” said Pan-gon.

“The match against Turkmenistan will be important, so we should challenge for full points. We have no excuse to lose to Bangladesh. We aim to get seven points to be in a position to qualify (for the Finals).

“It will be a tough journey but we can rise to the challenge for a place in the final stage. We will bank on our home fans support.”

“The weather, condition and stadium... they are at our advantage, we will use this to try to get into the final stage,” said the South Korean coach after assessing Malaysia’s chances following the draw yesterday.

Malaysia have not played Turkmenistan before but they have a good record against Bangladesh.

Malaysia have won on seven out of 10 occasions and only lost once – back in 1982 in the Asian Games.

Malaysia have played Bahrain 14 times but only won twice. They held Bahrain to a draw on five occasions.

The national side last met Bahrain in an international friendly in May last year and lost 0-2.

Thirteen teams, including hosts China, have qualified so far. The others are Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Arab Saudi, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman and Vietnam. Group A: Jordan, Kuwait, Indonesia, Nepal

Group B: Palestine, Philippines, Yemen, Mongolia

Group C: Uzbekistan, Thailand, Maldives, Sri Lanka

Group D: India, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Cambodia

Group E: Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh

Group F: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Singapore

THE DRAW