PUTRAJAYA: "Don't let me and the country down." That was the loud and clear message from Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to the national football team ahead of their AFF Suzuki Cup final first-leg tie against Vietnam at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, on Dec 11.Dr Mahathir, who will watch the final at the stadium, met the Harimau Malaya squad at Perdana Putra here Friday in a bid to spur them on."We must win so that we can be proud of the country's ability. As Malaysians, we are responsible for defending the dignity and honour of the country," he said, adding that he hoped the team would do their best to win.
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Also present at the meeting were Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, head coach Tan Cheng Hoe and skipper Zaquan Adha Abd Razak. Hamidin also presented Dr Mahathir with a No 7 jersey.Malaysia will travel to Hanoi for the second leg of the final on Dec 15.
Dr Mahathir also advised the players to be disciplined, especially in making sure they had enough rest and to train diligently and passionately in order to achieve success."I hope you will work hard and practice a lot. Live, sleep and think only of football and winning for Malaysia," he said.
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Dr Mahathir also hoped that Malaysia would one day qualify for the World Cup."Football used to be one of the sports where Malaysia used to be strong at and won consistently, now the country is being left behind," he said.
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He said Japan had achieved great success quickly and were a very good team although they used to trail Malaysia last time."Because they trained diligently, Japan have improved so much that they have even qualified for the World Cup. So, I want to see Malaysia compete in the World Cup one day," he said. Meanwhile, there was more good news for Harimau Malaya fans as FAM will have another 10,000 online tickets Saturday for the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup final between Malaysia and Vietnam on Tuesday.This was after its 20,000 online tickets were snapped up Friday morning.FAM via its Facebook website said its online ticket counter at www.tickethotline.com.my had opened 30 minutes before the 9am opening time as it wanted to test the system, but the tickets were taken up within a short time. As a result, FAM had decided to increase the number of online tickets from 20,000 to 30,000 with the remaining 10,000 online tickets available from 9am Saturday.It added that 40,000 tickets would be sold over the counter at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Sunday.
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Malaysia advanced to the final after it drew 2-2 against the defending champion, Thailand in the second semi-finals action in Bangkok on Wednesday, while Vietnam advanced to the final after a 4-2 aggregate victory over the Philippines on Thursday.The 2018 AFF Suzuki final match would use the reciprocal format with the national squad entertaining Vietnam on Tuesday before the second leg in Hanoi on Dec 15. – Bernama
