KUALA LUMPUR: If last year's team were good, Brad Maloney is confident he can come up with an even better one this time.
For the Asian U19 Championship in Tashkent in October, the national Under-19 coach aims to forge a side stronger than last year's Malaysian side that shone in the AFC U19 qualifiers and emerge runners-up at the Asean Under-18 Championship.
Maloney feels that the new faces he has brought into the team for phase one centralised training will make a difference when Malaysia compete in the Asian U19 event,
"I think we can improve, we only had a relatively short time to work with the team before. So, the more time we can have, the better it is for everybody," said the Australian today.
"We're looking at new faces as well and if the new players can contribute more to the team, that's a very positive sign."
The coach's summation of phase one training is "very positive" but said he is still waiting for some regulars to get approval from their M-League clubs to join training.
In the Asian U19 Championship, Malaysia are drawn in Group D with 2014 champions Qatar, Tajikistan and Yemen.