National Under-19 team coach Hassan Sazali Waras has pushed his players to wake up from their previous defeat and concentrate on their third place playoff against Laos, later today.
The Young Tigers were beaten 5-0 by a strong Thailand side, in the semi-final of Asian Football Federation (AFF) Under-19 Youth Championships on Wednesday.
And Hassan clearly refuses to let his players to live in the past, reminding them that there is still one last occasion to rise up to.
“We have to learn from the defeat, at least ending the competition in third place.”
“It’s not necessary for the players to think about what has happened. This is important to be remembered, if they want to be achieving greater success in the future,” explained Hassan, as quoted by Arena Metro.
If they do defeat Laos, the national contingent will be repeating their 2011 achievement, where they also ended up in third place.
In the mean time, Secretary General of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Datuk Hamidin Amin stated that his side are currently waiting for the Under-19 full squad report.
“The defeat to Thailand is truly sad to accept, but one match does not decide anything. We have to wait for the full report before making any decisions.”
Young Tigers now are in their final phase of preparations, ahead of their AFC Cup qualifying rounds.
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