KUALA LUMPUR: Former national coach Ong Kim Swee said quite a number of the players that stunned South Korea 2-1 at the 2018 Asian Games are in Doha, and he hopes they will shore up the present team at the Asian Cup.
World No. 130 Malaysia, coached by Kim Pan Gon, will play No. 87 Jordan tomorrow, No. 86 Bahrain on Jan 20 and No. 23 South Korea on Jan 25 in Group E.
Kim Swee hopes that those players of the 2018 side will bring that 'winning experience against Korea' to Doha.
The players from that side now in Doha are Dominic Tan, Syahmi Safari, Akhyar Rasid, Safawi Rasid, Faisal Halim, Matthew Davies, Syihan Hazmi and Syamer Kutty Abba.
He reckoned that Safawi should be the point of reference as he had scored two goals against South Korea in that memorable match.
"I believe Son (Heung Min) will not take Malaysia lightly because he knows what it was like to lose against us."
While admitting there are favourites and underdogs in competitions, Kim Swee said it still will all boils down to performance on match day.
"If everything goes well for Malaysia, there's always an opportunity," said Kim Swee.
"We can put up a good fight. We stand a good chance against Jordan and Bahrain, who aren't as strong as South Korea or Japan.
"We shouldn't be struggling but this competition is on a different level, and it's about how we prepare."
