PETALING JAYA — National head coach Kim Pan-gon is confident that Harimau Malaya right back Matthew Davies can produce a transformed performance during the two International Tier 1 friendly matches in Chengdu, China on September 6-9.
Davies said the defensive approach was probably adopted by Pan Gon to suit the style of play that is expected to be displayed by the two opposing teams, Syria and host China, who are ranked in the top 100 of the FIFA world ranking compared to Malaysia who are in 136th spot.
“I believe it is going to be slightly a different approach against better ranking oppositions (Syria and China) especially in away games.
“Defence is definitely an important aspect but at the same time we don’t want to go there (Chengdu) with ultra-defensive because that’s not the way we are as a football team,” said Pan Gon when met during the National squad’s training session at Wisma Persatuan Bolasepak Malaysia (FAM), Kelana Jaya here today.
Pan Gon was commenting when asked about the approach that will be taken when facing the two teams, since in the past games, the South Korean coach has been focusing on an attacking game.
Malaysia, scheduled to leave for Chengdu on Monday, will face Syria on September 6 and China three days later. — September 2, 2023