Was the objective of the Oceania Tour achieved?
In a way coach Dato Ong Kim Swee says it was partially achieved.
The national team embarked on a three nation tour, playing matches against Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Fiji.
The lost 2-0 to Papua New Guinea, defeated New Caledonia 2-1 before being held to a 1-1 draw by Fiji.
Overall the team scored three goals and conceded four.
" Our aim was to win all three matches but that was not achieved," said Kim Swee after the draw against Fiji.
" However out main objective was to get the team to gel together and work on tactical aspects be in in Attack and Defence.
" That I believe was achieved as the team showed marked progress as the days went by.
" Their approach on training and matches has seen a steady rise and it built up their character well.
" In the Long run this will augur well as we look towards the AFF Cup in November."
Kim Swee utilised all 24 players in his training squad for the three matches with only Brendan Gan and Fadli Shas being in the starting XI in all three matches.
Several others, namely Fazly mazlan, S. Kunalan, Christie Jayaseelan, Amirulhadi Zainal, Amri Yahyah, Fakri Shaarani and Badrol Bakhtiar also played in all 3 games but but cane on as subs.
Kim Swee said that players like Christie, Brendan, Fadhli and Chanturu beside the seasoned players impressed him the most.
"To name one it's difficult but the overall contribution of certain players caught my eye," said Kim Swee.
" We have another Teo months before the next national call up and me and the coaching staff will be motoring the performances in the M-League and Makaysia Cup.
" I do expect to call up some new players and even drop those on this tour that slacken or did not do what was required.
" It is a process that has to be done and as time is the Essence I cannot do much chop and change as the frame work of the team is already in place.
" These matches gave me useful insights that I hope will help improve our performance in the months to come."
The national team is scheduled to play matches against Indonesia, Singapore and Afghanistan leading up to their November AFFCup date.
