Bahrainis fully focused on win against Malaysia: Pizzi

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is fully focused on securing victory this evening against Malaysia in their second game of the AFC Asian Cup, says national team head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.

The Group E clash is set to take place at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari city of Al Rayyan with a 5.30pm kick-off, Bahrain time. It follows the Bahrainis’ 1-3 loss to continental giants South Korea in their opening fixture of the competition.

Speaking yesterday in his pregame Press conference, Pizzi was quoted as saying: “The game against Malaysia is going to be very challenging; it won’t be easy.

Both teams share the same ambition of qualifying into the knockout stage.

To succeed, we must maintain 100 per cent focus and strive to secure a victory. “For me it doesn’t matter where we are playing, what we want is to focus and get the three points.

“We know we need to improve our game from one match to another. However, it’s crucial to emphasise that our level (against South Korea) was not weak at the centre of the attack.”

Ruled out

Pizzi addressed the injury of defender Amine Benadi, who has been ruled out for the rest of the AFC Asian Cup after suffering a knock against the South Koreans, which resulted in him being stretchered off the pitch during the half. “The injury to Amine is crucial for the team, both in terms of skill and morale support,” Pizzi said.

“Finding a suitable replacement has been challenging, but as always, we have plans and ideas to implement on the pitch, and we have faith in our strategy.”

Meanwhile, Malaysia head coach Kim Pan-gon said that his team is also keen on taking the full three points and bouncing back from their 0-4 drubbing against Jordan in their Group E opener. “It was tough losing the first game,” said Kim. “The whole team was disappointed with the result.

Malaysia has a strong mentality and is very resilient and we believe the players will come back strong.

“We will approach tomorrow’s game [against Bahrain] with the same mentality as our first match. We have to be brave and we want to control and dominate and hit the opponents early and make them struggle. If we do not do that, then it’s not the Malaysian way.”

Following today’s assignment, Bahrain wrap up the tournament’s preliminary stage when take on the Jordanians on Thursday next week at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, set for a 2.30pm start, Bahrain time.

The Bahrainis need to finish amongst the top two in their group to automatically advance to the knockouts, or be one of four best-ranked third-placed teams from the six pools.