Kuala Lumpur: The national football team is solely focused on winning as they prepare for the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup second round qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this June.
Team captain Mohamad Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak
(pic) said the team has always focused on winning their last three matches against the UAE, Vietnam and Thailand as they chase an automatic qualifying slot to the 2023 Asian Cup finals.
He said the players also refused to think of things beyond their control, including the recent withdrawal of the North Korean team which might affect the points in the group competition.
“For me it’s simple, we don’t know what we are going to face, but we (the team) do not want to think about the North Koreans withdrawing, we are focusing on winning. Whatever happens, we need to win and if we win, there won’t be any problems.
“Our main focus is to win our matches and get as many points as we can,” he said during the national squad’s central training camp media conference conducted virtually here on Monday.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed Sunday that the North Korean Football Association withdrew from the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers and would refer the matter to Fifa, the world football governing body.
Local news outlets reported that the withdrawal would affect all competing teams negatively as the results against the bottom team would not be counted.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Aidil, Johor Darul Ta’zim’s (JDT) defensive pillar, was ready to be paired with any player in the national squad’s centre defence after the absence of Mohd Shahrul Mohd Saad due to injury.
He said he had prior experience playing with four other defenders, Adam Nor Azlin, Dominic Tan, Junior Eldstal and Muhammad Irfan Zakaria, listed by head coach Tan Cheng Hoe.
“Only in terms of tactics, the selected individual needs to understand what tactics the coach wants, that’s more important. In terms of understanding to me, it’s not an issue,” he added.
Malaysia is now second with nine points in Group G, and will meet the UAE on June 3, Vietnam (June 11) and Thailand (June 15).
