Brad Maloney, Head coach of Malaysia U23 national team will be hoping to impress in their second outing in the Continental tournament after preparation tournament in Men’s Football at the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam.
“We played six matches in the 2021 SEA Games so I feel we have had a good preparation coming into this tournament,” said Maloney.
“I’m looking forward to the group stage and apart from Korea Republic, I see familiar opponents in Thailand and Vietnam. It will be a very challenging group.”
“Korea Republic are a world class team with several quality players in their setup and they have been performing well at a very high level. So we are going to approach this opening game with caution. Even though we did not score that many goals in the qualifiers, my players are not afraid to play anyone.”
Malaysia reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 AFC U23 Asian Cup but Maloney insists that the team have not set specific targets but will aim to go as far as they can.
“Korea Republic are the favourites to win the tournament and it will be a challenge for the other teams in the group, especially Vietnam and Thailand who have similar strengths. We did really well in 2018 when we reached the quarter-finals but I’m not looking at specific targets, instead we want to advance as far as we possibly can in this tournament.”
AFC U23 Asian Cup 2022 group stage, Group C between Korea Republic VS Malaysia will compete on 2 June 2022 at 9.00 pm. (Malaysian time) at Lokomotiv Stadium, Tashkent.
Credit Photo : AFC
