PETALING JAYA: No room for regrets, only improvement.
Selangor coach Kim Pan-gon believes Selangor can bounce back in the Asean Club Championship Shopee Cup by addressing their shortcomings.
And with determination to fix their problems, expect the Red Giants to go on the assault when they face defending champions Buriram United in the return leg final at Buriram Stadium in Thailand tomorrow night.
The Malaysian club are out to overturn a 1-0 deficit against their fancied Thai opponents.
The Thai League 1 side hold a slender advantage following Suphanat Muenta’s 25th minute header in the opening leg at MBPJ Stadium in Selangor last week and the Korean coach knows they are still very much in the fight.
“I have no regrets. We are looking forward now. Rather than regretting, we must focus on correcting things,” said Pan-gon.
“Technically and tactically, our technical team will work on it over the next two days and we will prepare very professionally.
“I want to encourage our players to gain more confidence because confidence is very important. We will go there and attack them.”
Selangor were unfortunate not to find the back of the Buriram United net in the opening encounter last Wednesday with both Noor Al-Rawabdeh and Hugo Boumous hitting the woodwork.
The defeat was only Selangor’s second in 22 matches in all competitions since Pan-gon was appointed as head coach in January and just the third time the team have not scored with him in charge.
Buriram United will have Brazilian forward Guilherme Bissoli available for the match after the club’s leading Shopee Cup scorer served a one-match suspension during the first leg due to his sending off for a second bookable offence in the semi-final win over Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT).
The 28-year-old Brazilian has scored six times so far in this season’s competition.
“It will be important for us to have him back. I know he will be eager to play,” said head coach Mark Jackson.
Jackson admitted he was anticipating a fresh challenge in the return fixture.
“The second leg will be a different game but we know how to manage the recovery process and prepare the boys physically and mentally for the game because this tie is not over.”
