KUALA LUMPUR: Pressure can be the factor that will contribute to the failure of the national under 22 (U-22) football squad in their hunt for glory at the Cambodia 2023 SEA Games, which will officially start on May 5.
This was voiced by the team’s former coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee who sees the pressure to bring home the gold medal in the men’s football event, dubbed the ‘mother of all medals’, as one of the main challenges at the carnival-themed tournament.
Speaking based on his vast experience at five editions of the SEA Games (from 2011 to 2019), the Sabah FC head coach who led the Harimau Muda squad in clinching the gold medal at the Indonesian edition of the SEA Games in 2011, said the squad’s focus should be on getting positive results at every match.
“I believe that we should not put pressure on the players that they should come home with a medal.
What’s important is for the players to be at their best and focus on every match,” he told Bernama here.
According to Kim Swee, such high pressure placed on the players might have the potential to bring about a very negative impact on them, thus putting the team in jeopardy.
Kim Swee said the team should not think about playing in the semifinals or the final before the competition even started, but instead need to quickly gain confidence, especially in the opening match of Group B against Laos in Phnom Penh today.
“This is important for the team to stay focused. It’s better to stay focused on one match at a time, rather than worrying about
playing against Vietnam or Thailand,” said the 52-year-old coach.
On May 6, the Harimau Muda squad is scheduled to face the most successful team in SEA Games men’s football, Thailand, which had won 16 gold medals so far, followed by defending champion Vietnam on May 8 and the remaining group in Group B, Singapore, on May 11.
Kim Swee said the success of qualifying for the semifinals is not a guarantee that E. Elavarasan’s men will easily advance to the final and achieve the set target, but it can provide a big morale boost to the players to fight for the gold medal.
“Yes, we were drawn into a group which has been deemed the toughest, but if we can qualify for the next stage (semifinals) which of course will not make it easier, it will definitely motivate and boost the players’ confidence and morale to qualify for the final,” he said.
Kim Swee is the last coach to guide the national U-22 squad to win gold in the men’s football event at the SEA Games to defend the success created by Malaysia in the 2009 edition in Laos.
The dream of repeating the same success was denied when the team only managed to bag the silver medal in the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
In the 2013 edition in Myanmar, the team made it to the semifinals but lost in the bronze medal match, while in the 2015 and 2019 editions, the team was shown the exit in the group-level competition.
The last edition in Vietnam last year also saw the U-22 squad led by Australian coach Brad Maloney return home empty-handed after the bronze medal match. – BETNAMA
