KUALA LUMPUR — “I should take the blame and not my players; they have given their 100%, but they don’t deserve to play in such circumstances.”
Whether it’s the condition of the pitch or the lack of games that the national football team has been playing over the past few months, national head coach Kim Pan-gon was not clear about the circumstances he was referring to following his team’s 0-2 defeat to Oman in the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifier at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last night.
This loss also marks Malaysia’s second consecutive defeat in the qualifiers against Oman in less than a week after losing to them with the same score on March 22 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman.
Pan-gon openly admitted that it was a tough game against the Omani side and apologised to the Malaysian fans for not achieving a positive result.
“It was a very tough game, and I should take the blame, not my players. They have given their 100%, but they don’t deserve to play in such circumstances. First, as a leader and as the head coach, I apologise to every Malaysian for not delivering the result.
“They don’t deserve to lose, and the players nearly cried. I have a lot to say, but I prefer not to speak as I don’t want to cause any issues,” said Pan-gon in a post-match conference.
At the same time, Pan-gon also said that he’s hoping for a miracle to qualify for the next round of the qualifiers, citing that Harimau Malaya needs more international matches to achieve their target.
“We have two more games, and we have to start believing in a miracle and not give up. We need to fight till the end. People can throw 100 questions at me, but people will not understand what happens before and during the match. Sometimes, not everything that we plan will work out the way we want.
“I have to take the blame for everything that happened during the game, as I made the team lose their characteristics and DNA in front of the home fans. I wanted to hit our opponents hard after our previous defeat.
“The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has helped me a lot over the past two years. We need more game time, and Malaysia will regret it one day in the future if we don’t have any game time.
“We still have a chance; we are ranked 132nd in the world and we had a decent performance against a strong side ranked 80th in the world,” Pan-gon added.
Malaysia is currently placed third in Group D of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifiers after today’s defeat, with six points. — March 27, 2024