AFFU19: A precious tournament for young players

The concensus among the participating teams here in Jakarta for the AFF Under-19 Boys Championship 2022 is that the tournament is an important avenue for the further development of young players.

At the Pre-Match Press Conference for Group B earlier today, Singapore head coach Muhammad Fadzuhasny Juraimi said that he was “glad the tournament is being held” after an absence of two years.

“It has been a while since a regional U19 tournament is being held and we are really glad that the AFF have organised the championship this year,” said Fadzuhasny.

“Young players at this age group need these games. We are working towards a certain target in terms of our playing style. It is a tough group for sure but we aim to apply what we have learned in practise.”

His sentiment was echoed by Laos head coach Michael Weiss: “this is a precious tournament at this age group. And certainly, we appreciate that the AFF have organised this championship.

“We did not have much of a preparation as most of the players were still playing in the league. We look forward to showing what we can do even though we lacked depth in the squad. I hope that with the crucial off days in between for us, we can improve on the performance.”

Added Malaysian head coach Hasaan Sazali Waras: “We thanked the AFF for this tournament. The goal for all teams here will be to do well at the AFC qualifiers in September.

“We did not have a long period of preparation where we took mostly players from the lower league. We even have some 17-year-olds in the squad. We need to rotate the players well.”

“We could not prepare the squad as well as we had hoped. But we will do our best with the players that we have. We will try very hard to get the results for the team and the country,” said Khann Kath, assistant coach for Cambodia.

“We were faced with some unfavourable conditions in preparing for this tournament. Certainly, we did not have the best of preparations but we will put up the best performance possible in this tough group,” quipped Timor Leste head coach Eduardo Pereira.

The first matchday for Group B will be on 3 July 2022 at the Madya Stadium.

AFF UNDER-19 BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

GROUP B – All matches at the Madya Stadium

FIXTURES

3 July 2022

1500hrs: Timor Leste vs Laos

1900hrs: Singapore vs Cambodia

#AFF

#AFFU19

Pictures Courtesy #PSSI

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