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Malaysia Under-22 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee admits his team still have plenty to do before next month's 2018 AFC U23 qualifiers after they were dismantled 5-1 by Melaka United in a friendly match on Thursday night. Ong's men were undone by four goals from Melaka's Croatian forward Marko Simic. R. Surendran got the other goal for the Mousedeers, while Malaysia's consolation came through exciting winger Safawi Rasid. "We lost focus in the second half and the players look tired. We have to work on many things after the players return from their Hari Raya celebrations," Ong said. "But this defeat doesn't give an indication of our strength or weakness. The players will return to their clubs after this, and we will gather them for centralised training again on July 5." The development side had performed admirably on their recent China tour with only one defeat from three tough games. After going down 1-0 to the China U22 on June 10, Malaysia recovered to draw 2-2 against the reserves of Guangzhou R&F (June 13), before thrashing the backup side of Guangzhou Evergrande 3-0, two days later. Ong will have his players for more than a week before deciding on his final list of players to be announced on July 13. The AFC qualifiers will be the former national coach's first big test before he aims to win Malaysia football gold at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games on home soil in August. In the qualifiers, Malaysia will be in Group H, alongside hosts Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia. They will face Indonesia (July 19), Thailand (July 21), before ending the group stage against Mongolia (July 23).
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