Datuk Ong Kim Swee
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee will not refer to recent statistics to evaluate the strength of Indonesia when both teams renew their rivalry in the semifinals of the SEA Games men’s football competition today.
Kim Swee’s boys had last month beaten Indonesia 3-0 in the AFC Cup Under-23 competition enroute to qualifying for the 2018 Asian Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.
Indonesia’s ability to hold defending champion Thailand to a 1-1 draw and Vietnam (1-1) in their Group B matches to maintain an unbeaten record must be given credit although Malaysia had beaten Indonesia 3-0 in Bangkok.
“We cannot take Indonesia lightly after having scored a comfortable 3-0 victory last month. They have the ability to give our defence a tough time,” said Kim Swee during a pre-match press conference yesterday.
He said after the AFC Cup competition, coach Lius Milla’s boys had shown vast improvement since the coach had injected some new faces who did not feature in Bangkok.
“This time around there are a number of new faces in the team and we also know that one of the players in the current team had played for European club Ajax Amsterdam,” he said.
The only consolation today would probably be the absence of Indonesian skipper Hansamu Yama Pranata who will be serving a one match suspension after collecting two yellow cards.
Malaysia made it to the semifinals with an unbeaten record after winning all four matches in Group A, especially against Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar and Laos. — Bernama