Jørn Andersen, head coach of Hong Kong national team confirmed that he still has not got the best line-up against Malaysia national team in the International Friendly ‘A’ Match tomorrow night. and appreciate that the quality of Malaysian football has improved under coach Kim Pan-gon.
Andersen is the former head coach of DPR Korea national team which beat Malaysia national team 4-1 in all 2 matches in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers 3rd round Group B at Buriram Stadium, Thailand on 10 and 13 November 2017.
“I still remember when I managed North Korea in 2017, we beat Malaysia twice easily with a score of 4-1, but in the previous match with them I saw that Kim Pan-gon has raised the level of Malaysian football.” Andersen said in a Pre-match press conference.
“Even now I see that almost 50 percent of the players in the Malaysian team are foreign players, they get passports and cooperate well with the team,”
“I think tomorrow Malaysia will attack us, press us all the way, it’s a good match to improve our level against a stronger opponent.”
“All I can say is that we are a better team than before.”
Andersen said about there are some players who are still playing in the Chinese League and it is quite difficult to get a release from their club, but at least 21 players who came to Johor Bahru are better than during the June action last year which was plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic and restriction from China government.
“Last year, due to Covid-19 we were not able to call players to play in China but this time there is a little relief because the players we want can play but there are still some who cannot join us because there are still league matches in China.”
“In addition, there are some players who are still injured who are not with us for the friendly action and it’s a bit unfortunate after the defender, Helio José de Souza is also not with us due to passport issues.”
“Regardless, we came with the best line-up after going through the action against Singapore, last Thursday. Although the draw was 1-1, we dominated the match and did a series of attacks, but the opposing team, who practiced a defensive style of play, made it difficult for us to add a goal,”
International Friendly ‘A’ Match between Malaysia vs Hong Kong will kick-off on 28 Match 2023 at 10.00 pm. at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Iskandar Puteri. Live on Astro Arena, and TV9
Credit Photo : FAM
