“Malaysia and Japan will be tough” — Pakistan’s coach isn’t getting carried away at the Johor Cup

Two wins, fourteen goals, top of the table. Pakistan’s coach is still not relaxing

He’s right not to.

Speaking to The News by phone on Monday, Pakistan’s coach — named by the paper as Sameer Hussain — said the team’s performance so far has been satisfactory and the players are gaining confidence, then spent most of the interview talking about why the next two games are a different level of problem.

Pakistan face hosts Malaysia on Wednesday 21 October and Japan on Friday 23 October, and in the coach’s words both are among the strongest teams in the tournament. He’s not wrong, and Tuesday’s results proved his point before his team even played. Malaysia came from 2-1 down to beat Japan 4-2 with three goals in nine minutes, so Wednesday’s game is now first against second, both sides on six points. (The full Day 3 round-up is here.)

What he’s worried about, specifically

It’s the experience gap, and he put numbers on it.

According to The News, the coach said Malaysia have at least three players from their senior national team, plus home advantage at Taman Daya. Japan, he said, have five players with senior international experience. Against that, most of Pakistan’s squad are under 20, and he said only one member of it has represented the senior national team.

Read that again. Pakistan are top of this tournament with the youngest, least-capped squad in the top half of the table. That’s either a warning sign for Wednesday or the best story of the week, depending on what happens next.

The China comeback still matters to him

Asked how Pakistan recovered after China took a 3-1 lead inside 25 minutes on day one, the coach told The News the important thing was that his team eventually secured a convincing 8-3 victory. He accepted Pakistan needed time to settle and find their rhythm, and praised the players for not coming under pressure after conceding early.

That’s the bit Malaysia will have studied. Pakistan can be got at early. China did it, Canada scored twice too, and Malaysia’s crowd will be loud from the first whistle on Wednesday, in a night game, with top spot on the line.

Where the table sits tonight

Pakistan top: 6 points from two games, goal difference +9. Malaysia second: 6 points from three, goal difference +5. Japan third: 3 points, +5. Canada fourth: 3 points, -10. China bottom: no points from three games.

Wednesday’s fixtures, both at Taman Daya: China v Japan at 2:05 pm PKT, then Pakistan v Malaysia at 4:35 pm PKT. The winner of the second game goes to nine points and is, in practical terms, one result away from Saturday’s final. Our China v Japan preview is already up, and every score lands in the Live Centre as it happens.

Our take

Coaches talk up opponents every week, it’s part of the job. But this warning has maths behind it. Pakistan have scored 14 and conceded 5, and five of those goals against came in games they were controlling everywhere except the scoreboard for long spells. Malaysia won’t need 14 chances. Three goals in nine minutes against Japan tells you what their forwards do with a sniff.

Pakistan start as favourites on the table and on firepower. They don’t start as the more experienced team, and their coach has just said so, in public, on purpose. Wednesday will tell us whether that was honesty or mind games. Probably both.