KUALA LUMPUR: National football youth coach Ong Kim Swee has urged fans not to allow controversy over a blunder involving Indonesia’s flag to influence their emotions during Malaysia’s match against Luis Milla's side in the semi-finals on Saturday.
"Football is a sport and fans will be inside the Shah Alam Stadium to watch a good match.
"I urge the fans, both from Malaysia and Indonesia, to control their emotions and only support their respective teams.
"I hope the fans will not bring up other issues outside football... just enjoy the game", said Kim Swee in the pre-match press conference at PJ Hilton in Petaling Jaya today.
Indonesian assistant coach Bima Sakti said he hopes fans from both teams will behave accordingly.
"We do not want any incident that could affect both teams.
"Indonesia and Malaysia fans should act like brothers and just cheer for their teams.
"This is only football. Our fans are excited for their team, but they should only focus on motivating the team," said Bima.
A total of 70,000 tickets will be sold for the match at Shah Alam stadium, but only 10,000 seats will be allocated to Indonesian fans.
Sea Games organisers sparked outrage in Indonesia when news broke that Indonesia’s flag had been misprinted upside down in the Sea Games commemorative booklet, which came to light during the opening ceremony on Aug 19 at Bukit Jalil.
Malaysian authorities have since apologised over the matter.
On the semi-finals, Kim Swee said Indonesia have improved since his team beat them 3-0 in last month's AFC Under-23 qualifiers in Bangkok.
"They negotiated a tough Group B to reach the semi-finals. My players are motivated and there are no injury issues," he added.