KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya coach Kim Pan-gon has stressed that his team’s performance against Brunei in their Tier 1 international friendly match could have been better even though they cruised to a 4-0 win at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The South Korean said that there were times that his charges lost their rhythm against Brunei, ranked much lower than Malaysia, who are currently 154th in the FIFA rankings.
“Our game could have been better. I don’t count how many goals we score but overall, we could have done better,” said Pan-gon at the post-match press conference on Friday.
“There must be a rhythm throughout the match, as you can see in high-level football they don’t stop the rhythm too much.
“I cannot say I am not happy but I am trying to understand why our players lost their rhythm at times.”
However, he said that he was not complaining about his players’ performance as he believed that they have already given their best against a team who are ranked 191st in the world. In fact, he felt that his players might require more time to adapt to the new approach that he wanted to see on the pitch and lauded their effort to give 100% commitment during training sessions.
The 53-year-old Pan Gon also said that Malaysia would be playing much better if they were taking on a much stronger side and believed that they will deliver a good performance in their upcoming friendly match – against his former team Hong Kong on June 1.
In the meantime, he urged all fans as well as the media to keep giving their strong support and not just “launch attacks” on the players should they commit any mistakes.
“You may be angry or disappointed but we are trying our best to make you proud by giving better performances. If they (team) cry, we cry – we must fully support the players,” he added.
Meanwhile, he was very pleased to see the support from Malaysian fans who were present at the stadium to watch his first match since he took charge last February, especially the “Ultras Malaya” (hardcore fans) as they kept chanting to raise the players’ spirits throughout the match. — Bernama
