DOHA: Safawi Rasid, the man who destroyed mighty South Korea before, is calling for Malaysia to do something against the Asian giants at the Al Janoub Stadium tomorrow.
Safawi, who scored two goals against South Korea in Malaysia's historic 2-1 win at the 2018 Asian Games, hopes for a proud result that will restore their battered pride.
Malaysia were swiftly eliminated from the ongoing Asian Cup in Qatar after losing to Jordan (4-0) and Bahrain (1-0) last week in their Group E matches.
However, Harimau Malaya hope to bow out of the quadrennial Asian showpiece with their heads held high by baring their fangs and clawing the Taegeuk Warriors.
The difference in standards between World No. 130 Malaysia and world No. 23 Korea may seem as wide as the Arabian Gulf but it's not mission impossible.
For inspiration, the Malaysian players in Doha need to look no further - Safawi is right there.
The 27-year-old Safawi could be Malaysia's secret weapon against Son Heung Min's team though the veteran may not be in the starting 11.
The Malaysian team have made their intention clear - they don't want to come home empty-handed, they want at least one point - this mean South Korea must not be allowed to win although they are the favourites.
"We have 90 minutes where we will try to dent Korea's reputation. We will try. That's our target - to defend Malaysia's pride - and to earn at least one point." said Safawi.
Apart from Safawi, the current Malaysian team still have seven other members from that 2018 Korean-busting squad. They are Syamer Kutty Abba, Dominic Tan, Syahmi Safari, Akhyar Rashid, Faisal Halim, Matthew Davies and Syihan Hazmi.
At the other end, South Korea have retained six players from that Asiad squad. They are Tottenham Hotspur star Heung Min, Hwang Hee Chan (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Kim Min Jae (Bayern Munich), Hwang In Beom (FK Crvena Zvezda), Jo Hyeon Woo (Ulsan HD) and Song Bum Keun (Shonan Bellmare).
Safawi felt that Harimau Malaya have become more solid after being exposed to higher-ranked Asian teams. They upstaged World No. 98 Kyrgyzstan 4-3 in a World Cup Cup qualifier last November, and drew 1-1 against China and 2-2 against Syria (twice) in friendly games recently.
"We don't know how things will turn out. What I know is that the Koreans want to win 'big'. We mustn't let them. We're ready," said Safawi.
"Everyone is in a good place - physically and mentally. We will play with pride and everyone of us wants to get at least one point from our last game.
"We know we haven't qualified for the second round, but we still need a good result. We want to show our talent and tactical formation.
"We plan to press the Koreans and if they make mistakes, we can take our chances."