Doha, January 17 — Teamwork and players will ease the pressure facing the Harimau Malaya national team ahead of a do-or-die mission against Bahrain in the second leg of the 2023 Asian Cup Group E on Saturday. Understanding between them will be the most important factor.
Central defender Shahrul Mohd Saad said the team needs positive situations during training sessions to build determination and confidence among the players and the team.
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Shahrul said he remains positive that the team can achieve a positive result at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium and regain hopes of making history by reaching the Round of 16.
“There are only a few days left until match day and what is important now is unity within the team. We need to have a positive mood in training and naturally do our best in the next assignment.”
“We are all fine. We have been together for a long time. I believe we can still do it and I believe that the quality of players in the team can bring us some positive results against Bahrain. “I’m here,” he said when we met at the team hotel here today.
The 30-year-old Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) player admitted that Bahrain are the better team on paper, but said his team is conscious of getting the three points in order to draw attention to Malaysia. He said he needed to play with all his might.
“This will be the most important win because it took us a long time to get to this stage and we don’t want to miss the opportunity to create history,” Shahrul said, adding that he will give his all if he can play against Bahrain on Saturday. swore.
He also defended the tactical approach adopted by coach Kim Pangong in the 4-0 loss to Jordan, and refuted claims by local fans that Harimau Malaya national team players performed poorly on Monday. I denied it.
Shahrul said that although Malaysia played well in the match, this dark episode needs to be erased from everyone’s memory as Jordan was well prepared to erase any danger posed by the Harimau Malaya national team. Told.
In terms of head-to-head results, Malaysia have lost to Bahrain three times since 2013, the most recent being a 2-1 win in the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers at Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur in 2022. .
Bahrain is ranked 86th in the FIFA World Rankings, while Malaysia is 130th.
Following Bahrain, Malaysia will face two-time champions South Korea on January 25. — Bernama