KUALA LUMPUR: The recent Asian Games redraw has turned out to be a blessing for Ong Kim Swee as the national youth coach now has more time to prepare his team for the mission.
Malaysia will open against Kyrgyzstan on Aug 15, followed by South Korea two days later and Bahrain (Aug 20).
The team, who lost 1-2 to China in a friendly on Sunday, will train in KL until they depart for Indonesia on Aug 13.
And Kim Swee hopes he will be able to find a team for a friendly on Aug 10.
“We need one more friendly to iron out our shortcomings which were evident against China,” said Kim Swee.
“We have an extra week to prepare the team and this is useful as I need to tighten all departments.
“Considering Sunday’s defeat was our first match since January, I am happy with the performance and outcome.
“Of course, the performance wasn’t perfect. The areas we need to focus on are defence and midfield.”
It is learnt that Kim Swee’s squad may play UAE in a friendly on Aug 10 as the Middle East team together with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are in Malaysia for centralised training.
Among those who withdrew from the squad are Johor Darul Ta’zim’s (JDT) Aidil Zaquan Radzak and Syamer Kutty Abba along with JDT II’s Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak and Pahang’s Pahang’s Mathew Davies and Nor Azam Azih Aidil and Syamer are injured while Hadi is in Japan for a trial with J2’s Roasso Kumamoto.
Mathew and Nor Azam were not released by the FA Cup champions as the duo are needed by Pahang for their ongoing Malaysia Cup campaign.
“The door is still open for these players if they recover or are released by their teams,” said Kim Swee.
“ No doubt, the team could do with their services but at present I will work with those in the squad.
“ As for Hadi , I hope he will be able to join the team,” he added.