KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — The national Under-23 (U-23) football squad has technically confirmed a place in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup in Qatar next year.
E. Elavarasan’s young charges booked their ticket after emerging among the best four second-placed teams from the 11 groups in the qualifiers, and with a better disciplinary record than the nearest challenger, Iran, who collected more than three yellow or red cards.
Kuwait, Tajikistan, and China had earlier confirmed their spot in the tournament.
A Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) spokesman, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed the Harimau Muda squad’s qualification, saying that FAM is now waiting for the official announcement from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
This will be the third time Malaysia will be represented at the U-23 Asian Cup, after 2018 and 2022.
Yesterday, Harimau Muda ended their qualifying campaign in Group H with a narrow 1 – 0 loss to hosts Thailand at the Chonburi Stadium in Bangkok.
On the defeat, Elavarasan said his boys had fought till the end, but luck was not on their side.
“I think it is a match that we had to decide who had to win, who had to lose, and Thailand made use of their chances. We also tried very hard, but we could not equalise.
“They went in and tried their best; they improved in their attack but still could not finish to get the goal,” he said in an audio recording shared with the media.
— Bernama
