Philippines Tips Malaysia Team to Win The Gold In Football

SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), Aug 11 (Bernama) -- The Philippines' Under 23 (U-23) football squad head coach, Marlon Maro believes host Malaysia has the advantage of winning the gold medal at the 2017 SEA Games (KL2017). Marlon, 52, said although Thailand was the favourite team to retain the gold medal as they had won in two previous editions, he believed Ong Kim Swee's side remained the top choice to grab the gold medal after showcasing a major improvement, lately. “Thailand is a good team but I choose Malaysia as the favourite team to win the gold medal. If you go back to history, Malaysia had a good record as a host where they reached the final and won the gold. “Furthermore, they (Malaysia) had shown a good performance and I have no doubt about that,” he told reporters after the team’s arrival at the KL International Airport (KLIA) here, Friday. Marlon said his side’s target in this edition of biennial games was at least to qualify for the semi-finals. He added his players now were in a better state compared to the 2015 edition in Singapore after playing a series of friendly matches in Japan and Cambodia. "We all know that the Philippines in the group has such a strong team including Thailand and Vietnam but we will take one game at the time. “Our main objective this year is to be in the semi-finals and after that, we will see what’s coming for us,” Marlon added. The Philippines who failed to advance to the knockout stage in 2015 have been drawn in Group B alongside Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste. They will open their campaign against Cambodia at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium on Aug 15. -- BERNAMA