Football

War Elephants running loose in Cheng Hoe's mind

NILAI: The War Elephants have been heavy on national coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s mind the past few days.

He has to come up with a strategy for Malaysia to avoid being trampled by the heavy favourites in the AFF Cup semi-finals.

Defending champions Thailand are ranked World No 121 while Malaysia are No 169.

Cheng Hoe admitted that Thailand have a strong team but he is game for a fight against them.

Malaysia will host Thailand in the first leg at Bukit Jalil on Saturday

before heading to Bangkok for the return leg on Dec 5.

“We watched a couple of Thailand’s group matches. Even though they did not utilise three or four of their star players, we can see they are a complete team.

“From their goalkeeper to their attacking line, their players are really good.

“We know their players, especially Adisak (Kraisorn) who can

score with the slightest of chance.”

Harimau Malaya progressed to the semi-finals after defeating Myanmar 3-0 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last Saturday where they emerged as Group A runners-up, behind Vietnam.

Cheng Hoe said: “Of course we are the underdogs. For many years we’ve seen Thailand dominate the results in our matches with them.

“But we shouldn’t think we can’t beat them. We will play to win.”

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