PETALING JAYA, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- The Malayan Tigers have no reason to hold back now as this is their opportunity to emerge as champions of the AFF Women’s Cup 2024 which will be held from Nov 23 to Dec 5 in Vientiane, Laos and showcase the strength of women’s football in Malaysia,” said women’s national team head coach, Soleen Al-Zoubi.
She said the target was set after some of her players had endured a long season competing in the National Women’s League (LWN), the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) and participating in both national and international matches.
“Our target is definitely to seize the championship and this is our mindset now. Now it's our time to win something, to prove the mettle of Malaysian women's football to everyone.
“And we will also be ready for next year because we will having lots of competitions. So this is our real test to prove to everyone that we can compete,” she told the media during a training camp at Wisma FAM here today.
Soleen believes they are no longer a team to be underestimated as the current line-up features a narrow gap of group of senior and junior players who have proven their ability to compete against teams like Laos and Saudi Arabia in previous friendly matches.
When asked what she knew about the two early opponents, Indonesia (Nov 26) and Cambodia (Nov 29), Soleen said Malaysia are fortunate to have the opportunity to review and analyse as many strategies as possible as Indonesia and Cambodia will face each other on Nov 23.
Meanwhile, player Lauren Hoh Ruyi who is from Trinity College, United States said the most important thing to improve at this moment is the mindset, particularly the ability to perform under pressure in big games and major tournaments.
“I am open to playing any role and whatever the coach puts me, I will do my best. We will go with the flow and place our trust with the coach,” she said.
Meanwhile, FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman views the increasing presence of female players in football as a positive development and hopes that more of them will catch the attention of overseas teams such as Nurul Azurin Mazlan, who previously played in India.
The Malayan Tigress who have been drawn into Group B, are scheduled to begin their campaign of the 2024 AFF Women’s Cup against Indonesia followed by Cambodia at the KM16 National Stadium in Vientiane, Laos.
Based on the tournament format involving six teams, the group stage will be played in a round-robin format with the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals on Dec 2 (Monday).
The two winning teams will then meet in the final while the two losing teams will play in the third-place playoff on Dec 5 (Thursday).
-- BERNAMA
