FAM president optimistic of Malaysia's chances in Asian Games

The 2018 Asian Games will not be Datuk Hamidin bin Mohd Amin's first continental games as part of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) but this one will carry a slightly different significance as its the first one with him as the President of FAM.

For Hamidin, the competition represents a chance for Malaysia to build on the success of the 2018 AFC U23 Championships that was held in China earlier this year. Malaysia reached a historic quarterfinal appearance in that particular competition and given that the core of the squad remains almost the same, confidence is high going to Indonesia.

While Hamidin and FAM have set a fairly resonable and achievable target of getting out of the group stage, quietly he's also harbouring hopes of the U23 side under the guidance of Ong Kim Swee going deeper in the competition.

"I want the players and officials to focus on the Asian Games starting today. Our target is to make it to the last 16, which is getting out of the group. It is important that we are ready for the tournament. The recent friendly results are a morale booster for the us. We have shown that we have the quality and are capable of creating shocks."

"We have met them in the quarterfinal of the AFC U23. We almost beat them and managed to match them all the way. I'm sure we can do something. Our benchmark in all categories is try to be the best 16 in Asia.

"The incident against UAE is something once in 10 years. I was at the stadium and our players have high sporting spirit. That said, some of our players responded because they needed to defend themselves. This is something that is rare but can happen at any football match.

"We've sent the report to AFC and we are hopeful for a positive result. But we will accept the decision and if needed to defend, we will," said Hamidin to the press on Sunday.

AFC have yet to decide on what action to be taken on both United Arab Emirates and Malaysia after the 90 seconds fight that went on in an international friendly match between the two teams at Shah Alam Stadium last Friday.