KUNSHAN, China: The Asian Games this year in Jakarta and Palembang come August may have to be sacrificed in order to win a coveted place for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
To qualify for Tokyo, the national Under-23 squad will need to be among the four best teams at the AFC Under-23 Championship finals in two years time.
With qualifying for the championship taking place next year, coach Ong Kim Swee needs to get an early head start in preparing the team.
Among the plans which are being considered is giving the Under-21 players the chance of gaining valuable exposure at the Asian Games this year.
"We have a few ideas and proposals such as taking players aged 21-years-old and below to the Asian Games. But it must be known that we cannot set any targets nor goals. Because if we do then we will need to send the best squad of players that we have.
"If there are no goals or targets, I’d rather take players below the age of 21, though all the clubs involved must release the selected players. We will not request for players aged 23 and older, but those aged 21 and below as preparations for qualification for the Under-23 Championship next year,” he said when met here earlier today.
The national Under-23 squad made many stand up and take notice when they made history by being the first Malaysian national side to advance to the quarter-finals and almost went further if not for the narrow 2-1 loss at the hands of Asian giants South Korea at the Kunshan Stadium yesterday.
With such an achievement, Kim Swee believes his charges have set a high marker to surpass, with the Tokyo Olympics being a realistic, achievable dream, as the last time Malaysia qualified for the Olympics was 38 years ago, for the Moscow Olympics.
"Even though we played well yesterday against South Korea, but I am not at all satisfied as we did not make it to the semi-finals.
“We can’t just stop here, personally my target is qualification for the Olympic Games but with the condition that we get an early head start to prepare, and what we will have to do is become one of the top four teams at the 2020 AFC Under-23 Championship,” said Kim Swee.
Japan, who are the hosts of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, already have a head start as they sent their Under-20 players to compete at the AFC Under-23 Championship in China even though the Japanese were eliminated in the quarter-finals when they were beaten 4-0 by Uzbekistan who will take on South Korea in the semi-finals on Tuesday.