KUALA LUMPUR: After three friendly matches, national Under-23 squad coach Ong Kim Swee is still not satisfied with the performance of his charges.
For their last friendly match in South Korea played earlier today, the Under-23 side played out a 1-1 draw against Jeonju Citizens.
Safawi Rasid scored the equalising goal in the 75th minute to cancel out Oh Tae Hwan’s opening goal for the hosts in the 15th minute.
“By playing in such a high intensity match, we achieved our objective. Overall we still need to make adjustments and improvements here and there for the last tune-up match against the Syrian Under-23 team in Nanjing, China.
“From that match, only then will we be able to measure our strengths and weaknesses. We cannot compare performances from qualifying round matches against friendly matches.
“However, I believe that our boys are showing improvements from one match to another. What’s important is our players performance peaks at just the right time when the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Championship gets underway in China,” said Kim Swee.
The national Under-23 squad will play one more friendly match against the Syrian Under-23 team in Nanjing before they open their campaign in the championship against Iraq on January 10, Jordan on January 13 and Saudi Arabia on January 16.
In two earlier friendly matches, the national Under-23 squad drew 1-1 with Mokpo City FC, and notched a narrow 1-0 win over Honam University.
“The results don’t give much of an impact and nor does it heap pressure, but what’s most important is the quality of the game played.
“After three matches in South Korea, we managed to identify each and every weakness and now we need to work on addressing it all,” he said.