KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan Gon assured Malaysia will take revenge after losing 0-2 to Oman in their Group D match in the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Muscat, early this morning.
Malaysia will host the world number 80 in the next Group D match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, next Tuesday.
Pan Gon said with the team not having ideal preparation ahead of the two matches against Oman this month, his players gave their best early today before being forced to accept defeat.
However, the 54-year-old South Korean remains positive in preparing the best team in the period available for the match at home.
“We have to review our game quickly, quickly recover physically and prepare for the home game, we have one more home game, and we will try our best to prepare well to give a good game,” he told a post-match press conference.
Pan Gon said the match at home would give the national team an advantage and hoped his player would be able to collect at least one point to continue their mission of qualifying for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
“Home game should be different, of course physically and game fitness level we are not up to the level we expected but if we want to go to the third round (qualifier), I think next game we have to get some points…anyhow we must keep our hope in any situation, we have three games left,” he said.
Commenting on the match early this morning, Pan Gon said the situation his team faced in terms of not getting enough match fitness was not normal and made it difficult for the players, but he refused to use it as an excuse to cover up the team’s weaknesses.
In addition, he feels his team needs to change the approach that hunts for at least one point when playing away.
In this early morning match held at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Oman goals were scored in the second half through Issam Al Sabhi and Muhsen Al Ghassani in the 58th and 88th minutes.
The defeat saw Malaysia fall from first to third position but shared six points with Oman who took over as the leader on goal difference followed by Kyrgyzstan in second place while Taiwan is at the bottom without a point.
