SEPANG, Nov 14 — National football team head coach Nelo Vingada said he had to face a major struggle to prepare the national squad in the 2019 Asian Cup Qualifier which witnessed the end of Malaysia's journey after last night’s 1-4 defeat to North Korea.

Vingada, who also known as 'The Professor' for his expertise and experience in managing his previous teams said, the difficulty in gathering players who meet his criteria was a major obstacle in forming a strong team.

He said the lack of exposure at international matches before locking horns with teams in the Group B qualifying campaign also contributed to his failure to plan his strategy.

“I face many difficulties and to be honest, I arrived just one week before the first game against Lebanon so it was difficult for me because selection of the players was not made for me. 

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“When we played against Hong Kong in the second and third matches, we had a set of good players and enough time to prepare but as you remember some of the main players could not be in the team due to 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games,” he said upon his arrival with the team from Buriram, Thailand, here today.

He said he had also faced similar difficulties when he was preparing for the important match against North Korea which resulted in his side's 1-4 defeat in both matches.

“In the fourth training camp, we did not have all the players because of some issues, injuries and suspended players. We also had a very short time because we started training on Nov 8 to play on Nov 10,” he added.

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However, despite recording six defeats in seven matches under his charge, Vingada did not blame anyone but himself and was optimistic that the Malaysian football team would still march towards a bright future.

“I don’t blame anybody, I fight against difficulties because I’m in a good camp and having good people around me and I also have good staff and good players,” he said. — Bernama