PETALING JAYA (6 Dec 2014) – Malaysian head coach Dollah Salleh has skirted the suggestions that the team will face certain difficulties following the suspensions of two key players, preferring instead to highlight the quality he has on his side.
The Malaysians will be without defensive midfielder Mohd Shukor Adan and also striker Mohd Amri Yahyah for their first-leg, semi-final match against Vietnam tomorrow following the suspension of the duo to yellow cards.
But as Dollah pointed out, he does not see the absence of the two players having an adverse effect on his squad.
“I don’t think that we will be badly affected with the absence of the two players,” said Dollah.
“There are others in the team who can fill in the two vacant positions. There are no obvious differences in terms of quality between players in the squad. So I am quite confident that we will have quality replacements able to take over.”
The target for the team is still the same which is to win by at least two clear goals. Dollah said that he is ready for whatever Vietnam have in store where the priority would be to prise open the opponent’s defence and make sure that they get the advantage for the return tie.
“Sure we played against them before (last month in Hanoi) and we lost, but that was a different team, at least for us. We were still building a team and I would like to think that we are a different squad as compared to the one that lost in Hanoi,” added Dollah.
“We are playing at home and that is a strong point to bring forward where the players must take full advantage.”
Added rightback Mahalli Jasuli: “we are in a much better position now than when we started this campaign. The match against Vietnam is ours for the taking if we approach it with the right mindset. But we are confident.”
