KUALA LUMPUR: National head coach Kim Pan Gon admitted today that the quality of the M-League players has far exceeded his expectations.
The Korean who started work in January, has been looking for talent in the M-League in the past four months to form the Malaysian team for the Asian Cup qualifiers next month.
Based on Pan Gon's experience - he was coach of the Hong Kong that stunned Malaysia 2-0 in an Asian Cup qualifier in 2017 - he did not expect a high standard from local players.
"The players' quality is better than what I expected. The players have been giving their full commitment (in national training), so everything is good," said Pan Gon.
The national team, who began centralised training on Thursday, will play two international friendlies - against Brunei (May 27) and Hong Kong (June 1) in preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Pan Gon's team will play Turkmenistan (June 8), Bahrain (June 11) and Bangladesh (June 14) in the Asian Cup qualifiers.