PETALING JAYA: Consistency in planning is crucial in ensuring that a team do well in a tournament and that is evident among the South-east Asian nations in the Asian Cup.
For that, Sabah coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee has hailed nations like Thailand and Indonesia for doing well so far on the biggest continental stage.
Thailand are the first South-east Asian side to qualify for the last 16 after collecting four points from their first two matches in Group F.
Saudi Arabia top the group with six while Thailand are second.
The War Elephants also achieved their feat without several key players, one of them being attacking midfielder Ekanit Panya, who decided to stay with his Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds for pre-season.
Even key midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin is not part of the squad - coached by Japanese Masatada Ishiidue - due to injury, so that makes their progress even more impressive.
“If you look at Thailand, they came without several key players but their preparation towards the tournament is something we can learn from. Based on the results, you can see consistency in their planning,” said Kim Swee.
“Even without Chanathip, they qualified.”
As for Indonesia, they have the youngest squad in the Asian Cup with an average age of 24.3 with winger Marselino Ferdinan being the youngest at 19 while centreback Jordi Amat is the oldest at 31.
Kim Swee said it was encouraging to see the Garudas fielding lots of youngsters in the team and it’s something that has been done for the last two years.
“Indonesia have been consistent with the players they pick, especially the young ones. Before the Asian Cup, they even went for a training camp in Turkey to work on tactics, fitness and chemistry.
“The results can be seen as they performed decently against Iraq and Vietnam. That shows how well they have planned.”
Indonesia are currently third in Group D with three points, as they got their win in the second game by beating Vietnam 1-0.
Iraq are top with six points while Japan are second with three points, but they’re ahead of Indonesia due to a better goal difference.
Indonesia will next face Japan at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha today.
Vietnam and Malaysia have yet to register a win in the tournament.
Vietnam, though, have fared a little better, as they fought hard before losing to Japan 2-4 and then went down 0-1 to Indonesia.
Malaysia, on the other hand, lost their first two games in Group E and have yet to score a goal. They were thrashed 0-4 by Jordan before enduring a heart-breaking 0-1 loss to Bahrain.
