KUALA LUMPUR: The next chapter of the Malaysian football team under coach Kim Pan Gon will be put to test when Harimau Malaya take on hosts Thailand in the King's Cup in Chiang Mai tomorrow.
This chapter comes following Malaysia's qualification for the 2023 Asian Cup.
With eight new faces in the team, Pan Gon will use the tournament to test options and strategies ahead of bigger assignments.
"We are here to prepare for the AFF Cup in November and the Asian Cup next year," said Pan Gon in today's pre-match conference in Chiang Mai.
"This tournament is one part of the preparations. I will use this opportunity to get more information about our players.
"We will play in bigger tournaments in the future. Hopefully, the players can gain more confidence from this tournament and compete against each other to achieve the next level.
"We started eight months ago and this is only the third camp. We are trying to establish our own DNA."
Brendan Gan is expected to be handed his first start since June 2021 after beating cancer.
Belgian-Malaysian Dion Cools, the co-captain, will likely lead the Malaysian defence.
"We will try our best. For us we want to keep the good mood going but more importantly it will be how we can maintain and be better than our last game," added Pan Gon.