KUALA LUMPUR – National team forward Faisal Halim revealed that he and his teammates felt the wrath of head coach Kim Pan-gon in the dressing room during the break after they threw away their lead, only to be trailing 2-1 against Kyrgyzstan in the first half. Faisal said that Pan-gon was like a ‘tiger’ in the dressing room.
“He was angry and scolded us for being complacent. I felt that I was in the dressing room with a tiger but that is how the coach is. He told us to make sure the mistakes in the first half were not repeated.
“It was not an easy task to win after going down 3-1 but luck was on our side and we managed to win,” he said.
Faisal was the scorer of Malaysia’s injury time winner to send the 17,142 fans at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium into a frenzy last night
“I don’t know how to describe the feeling of scoring a late winner but what is important is that we won and the fans are happy. However, I would like more supporters to come to the stadium to cheer us on in the upcoming games.
“I want to thank those who came tonight (yesterday), even those who are supporting us at home. As a team we are very proud to be able to give you this victory,” he added.
Another standout performer for Malaysia was Johor Darul Ta’zim winger Arif Aiman Hanapi who had four assists in the match last night.
“When we were 3-1 down I didn’t really think much of it but I was a bit shocked to be losing 3-1.
“After that I could not believe we were able to score three against a team ranked 97 in the world.
“But what is important is getting the three points …it does not matter if we are leading or have a comeback, winning this opening game is really important and I’m really happy we managed it,” he said.
Malaysia’s next match is an away fixture against Chinese Taipei at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on Tuesday. – November 17, 2023