“The players did a good job. It is still too early to be satisfied.” After seizing the baton of Malaysia, a weak team in Southeast Asia, they made a winning streak, but coach Kim Pan-gon (54) was calm. He drew a big picture as he was responsible for the future of Korean football as the chairman of the Korea Football Association’s national coach selection committee.
Director Kim, who has been in charge of Malaysia for a year, did not hide his New Year’s aspirations to lead Malaysia to a higher place during a phone call with a reporter on the 27th. “When he joined Malaysia in January of last year, he signed a two-year contract. The other half has to work harder.”
His performance was dazzling. He led Malaysia to the semifinals at the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship (Mitsubishi Cup), which recently drew attention with former Vietnamese coach Park Hang-seo’s “Last Dance.” In addition, in the Asian Cup 3rd qualifying round, they advanced to the finals with 2 wins and 1 loss. It is the first time in 43 years that Malaysia has advanced to the finals of the Asian Cup, an intercontinental cup, since the 1980 tournament in Kuwait. In the meantime, in the King’s Cup, they defeated Thailand, which is classified as the second round in Southeast Asia along with Vietnam, and advanced to the final. The FIFA ranking, which rose from 154th (February 2022) to 145th (December), was also a meaningful leap for Malaysian football.
Manager Kim said, “Actually, what the Malaysian Football Association asked for was the Mitsubishi Cup quarterfinals, and the other was to advance to the Asian Cup finals. He thought ‘Okay’ while thinking about Korean football, but it turned out that it was not easy with Malaysia’s power,” and laughed, “Fortunately, it worked out well.”
In Malaysian football, Bentuho’s ‘build-up’ football, which gradually releases attacks from the rear, overlaps strangely. Coach Kim said, “The bold football philosophy that dominates and controls the game is similar, but if you look at the details, it’s a little different.” He said, “Honestly, good football philosophy doesn’t mean success. Fortunately, I got along well with the Malaysian players,” and turned the ball to the players.
In fact, in the field, coach Kim’s leadership, which led to rapid changes in the players, is given high marks. Coach Kim said that unifying soccer terminology and presenting an intuitive training model such as videos was effective. “This is the part where the coaching staff worked harder than me. In particular, simple animations made with PowerPoint enhanced the players’ understanding of tactics. I trained like a real battle under a script, and the response was good that I gave feedback through video after the training was over,” he explained.
In fact, it is not easy to lead the growth of adult players in any sport. However, the average age of the Malaysian national team was around 21 years old, which was a bit young, which led to a positive effect. Coach Kim said, “The skills of the players coming up from the floor are better than expected, but now we are covering the boulders with close to 100 players.” 바카라사이트 “There are quite a few mixed-race players playing in Australia and England. If these players can be naturalized, Malaysian football is worth betting on as well.”
In the new year of 2023, the year of the cat, coach Kim’s eyes are on the two competitions. First of all, we are looking forward to passing the first qualifying round for the 2026 North and Central America World Cup in Asia, where the number of participating countries will expand from 32 to 48. He said, “I can’t look at the World Cup finals right now, but I look forward to putting the first button through even the first qualifying round. If you think of Malaysian football fever, you will probably go crazy,” he expressed a subtle anticipation.
If the World Cup is a symbolic goal, the Asian Cup in January next year, which succeeded in qualifying for the finals, is the stage where actual results must be achieved. It can also affect manager Kim’s contract renewal. Coach Kim said, “I want to achieve the goal of passing the group stage for the first time in the Asian Cup. Then, the picture I dream of in Malaysia will be able to grow bigger,” he said, talking about his New Year’s desire.