KUALA LUMPUR: Midfielder Syamer Kutty Abba believes that Harimau Malaya have improved a lot under South Korean coach Kim Pan Gon in the last two years and are capable of more.
And he believes the team will perform even better at the Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, from Jan 12-Feb 10.
Syamer feels that World No. 130 Malaysia will not be in Doha to make up the numbers, but to slug it out with South Korea (23rd), Bahrain (86th) and Jordan (87th) in Group E.
Under Pan Gon, the team had chalked up nine wins in 13 matches this year, including a landslide 10-0 win over Papua New Guinea in June. In September, Malaysia did well to draw 2-2 with world No. 91 Syria and 1-1 with world No. 79 China in friendlies.
"This is the stage for us to prove how far we've come. Year-by-year, we've improved tremendously.
"To go up against stronger teams will provide us with the much needed spirit to prove that our game can be better against them," said Syamer, 26, who got married less than a week before national training started on Tuesday.