Despite a heavy defeat to Thailand U-22 in the second group match of U23 AFC Championship qualifiers, Malaysia head coach Ong Kim Swee believes that the door to finals in China next year still open for his team.
In the post-match press conference, Kim Swee admitted that his players were the lack of confidence against the Southeast Asian team.
“We know the qualities of Thailand. They swapped six players in the starting line-up, we made a mistake, especially at the end of the first half so they could score the second goal,” the Malaysian coach said, as quoted by Goal Thailand.
However, Kim Swee insisted that their qualification hopes still remain despite the defeat, as long as the Young Tigers are able to avoid losing to Mongolia U23 in their last group match this Sunday.
“Even if we lose, we still have three points from the last game,” pointed out the former Malaysia senior team head coach.
“It’s all possible. We can finish as the group winner or the bottom one. The situation is quite difficult to say.”