Best players must be made available for Malaysia's Asian Games campaign - OKS

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BY        ZULHILMI ZAINAL       Follow on Twitter

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The draw for men's football tournament at the 2018 Asian Games was undertaken on Thursday, July 5, and Malaysia U-23's place in the group stage has been revealed.

The Young Tigers have been drawn in Group E, alongside defending champions Korea Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain.

Hosts Indonesia meanwhile have been drawn in Group A, Thailand in Group B, Timor-Leste in Group C, Vietnam in Group D, and Myanmar in Group F.

Farabi Firdausy

The full 2018 Asian Games draw. Photo by Farabi Firdausy

The competition will be held between August 14 this year, and September 1.

Commenting on the draw, head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said that the key to going far in this tournament is the availability of his charges.

"Admittedly, we've been drawn in a tough group, whereby we are up against the defending champions. But what's important is our preparations.

"If we can gather the best U-23 players as well as the three overaged senior players, I believe we can go far in the tournament. Having said that, we need to work hard, should we not be able to get what we require," said the one-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medal winner.

Last year, Kim Swee shockingly received poor cooperation from the clubs to release his players ahead of the AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers, as well as the 2017 SEA Games' training camp. Despite these setbacks, he managed to guide his charges to the SEA Games final match, as well as the U-23 Championship finals, all the way to the quarter-finals.

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