Kim Pan-Gon, head coach of Malaysia national team, had no words other than an apology to Malaysian fans after losing to Tajikistan national team 0-2 in the final round and failing to win the Pestabola Merdeka 2023.
After upsetting Malaysia in the final stage of the King’s Cup 2022 at Chiangmai, Thailand, Tajikistan let Malaysia down for the second time, this time in front of nearly 40,000 home fans for the Malaysia national team’s first loss after seven matches.
“I apologise to Malaysians who have high expectations for us to win the cup after several years,” Pan-Gon said in post-match press conference.
“But we didn’t manage to deliver the championship as expected, so as a coach, I’m sorry for this decision.”
“But I’m still proud of the players because we attacked and dominated the game against a team ranked 110th in the world.”
“I’ve said before that we won’t always win, so this will be a lesson for us,”
Credit Photo : Simon Yap/SNE-Photo
