KUALA LUMPUR: The mission of producing more young calibre footballers is not being taken lightly including the National Under-23 (U-23) football squad, said National U-23 squad head coach, E. Elavarasan (pix).
Citing the example of other countries that place great emphasis on the development of young players, he said Malaysia is also not missing out on doing the same to ensure that Harimau Muda can stand tall among other teams in the Asian region.
“Of course, teams like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam stand out from the point of view of the development of their young players.
“So we are also trying our best to catch up with them,” he said through an audio shared by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in conjunction with the 2023 AFF U-23 Championship in Rayong, Thailand, which started today.
At the tournament, Malaysia, who aim to qualify for the final, are drawn in Group B with Timor Leste and the 2023 SEA Games champions Indonesia, with the top two finishers of each group qualifying for the semi-finals.
Group A comprises the host team Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei and Myanmar (4 teams) while Group C is lined up with defending champions Vietnam, Philippines and Laos.
Malaysia’s best achievement at the U-23 tournament was finishing fourth in the inaugural edition in 2005. -Bernama
