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Pan-gon’s bold target bodes well for Malaysian football, says former national head coach Sathianathan
Former national head coach B Sathianathan said Kim Pan-gon, who shared his aim at his first media conference yesterday, proved that the South Korean coach had the desired confidence and ambition to take the Harimau Malaya to a higher level in the future. — Bernama pic
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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — New Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan-gon’s bold target of wanting to guide Malaysia to the World Cup Finals one day is a good sign for the national football arena.
Former national head coach B Sathianathan said Pan-gon, who shared his aim at his first media conference yesterday, proved that the South Korean coach had the desired confidence and ambition to take the Harimau Malaya to a higher level in the future.
Sathianathan, who is the Sarawak United FC technical director, believes that Pan-gon must have analysed the capabilities of the national players for him to boldly state his vision for Malaysian football.
“He has been entrusted with taking charge of the national team, so we must respect his ambition. Let him decide how he intends to achieve it with the team, we just need to give him our support,” he told Bernama when contacted today.
Although Pan-gon stressed that he be given time to build a solid foundation in order to take Malaysia to a higher level than the South-east Asian region, local football observer Mohd Sadek Mustafa feels that the 52-year-old would not actually have that luxury after setting such a high benchmark for his team.
“Pan-gon does not have the luxury of time because he has already set such a bold and extraordinary KPI (key performance indicator of qualifying for the World Cup). He needs to give 200 per cent commitment (to achieve that target),” he said.
Mohd Sadek said he would not be surprised if Pan-gon were to add a new dimension to Malaysia’s game since South Koreans are famous for their culture of hard work and high discipline in chasing their dreams.
Should the 2026 World Cup be Pan-gon’s target, Mohd Sadek is of the opinion that it would only be right for the former South Korean Football Association team director to focus on polishing the talent available in the national Under-23 squad, who are currently being coached by Brad Maloney.
However, the UiTM Shah Alam Sports Science Faculty senior lecturer said that would all, however, depend on the performance of the youngsters in the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan from June 1-19.
“If the Under-23 squad can qualify for the semi-finals in Uzbekistan, I feel that Pan-gon can then try to rope in the youngsters for the World Cup Qualifiers.
“This will make the seniors be on their toes knowing they have new challengers (for their positions) if Maloney’s boys manage to make the semi-finals in Uzbekistan... so Pan-gon has the option to take the youngsters to the World Cup Qualifiers.
“If our squad can do what Vietnam did in reaching the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup that would still be considered a success,” he said.
Vietnam, who were the only team from South-east Asia to qualify for the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, however, failed to book a spot in the 2022 World Cup Finals after finishing last in the group stage.
Yesterday, Pan-gon said he believed that he could take Malaysia to the World Cup Finals as Asia could be given up to nine slots in the future.
Mohd Sadek, at the same time, was impressed with the attitude shown by Pan-gon, who stated that he would not practice favouritism when it comes to selecting national players and hoped that there would also be no outside interference. — Bernama