KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Former Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar described Kim Pan Gon as still the right person as head coach of Harimau Malaya.
Mohd Saifuddin, who was one of the important individuals in the process of appointing Pan Gon in January 2022, said the coach from South Korea has proven his ability to transform the national team to qualify on merit for the Asian Cup after 42 years.
Besides that, he said with Pan Gon’s touch, Malaysia’s position in the world ranking rose sharply from 154th to the best position of 130th and the 54-year-old coach also proved his professionalism and impressive work quality.
“He (Pan Gon) has brought Malaysia to a level that we didn’t expect we could be there in the near future, we have to understand that the city of Rome was not built in a day but for me he has done something miraculous.
“This is because he is a very particular person and very passionate and he works 100 per cent, he also revises regularly to successfully lift Malaysia to a higher level,” he said when contacted by Bernama, today.
Despite a series of unsatisfactory results recorded by Harimau Malaya earlier this year, Mohd Saifuddin believes that Pan Gon should be given more time.
The former assistant head of the Qatar Stars League Competition Division and the former technical consultant of the Oman Professional League said that while Pan Gon’s appointment process was made earlier, the factors guiding the national team for the long term should be taken into account.
“It is true that we are thinking about the long term because he (Pan Gon) is the director of the National Team of the Korea Football Association (KFA) who is responsible for selecting the coaches for the South Korean national team, thus we can see his caliber.
“I think Pan Gon is the right person for Harimau Malaya at the moment,” said Mohd Saifuddin who held the FAM secretary-general post for two years starting in 2021 before leaving in 2023.
Yesterday, the national football arena was rocked by news reports that Pan Gon and his coaching staff had recently sent a letter to FAM and were ready to leave the national team if their services were no longer needed.
However, in a statement on FAM’s official Facebook page, Pan Gon denied the news report and expressed his commitment with the team until his contract expires at the end of 2025.
Pan Gon said his main mission is to get Malaysia to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and secure an early spot for the 2027 Asian Cup.
Pan Gon is having a tough time with Harimau Malaya following two consecutive 0-2 defeats to Oman in Group D of the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers recently, dropping to third position with six points.
Three points behind Oman and Kyrgyzstan who share the top two positions, Pan Gon faces a must-win mission in its remaining matches against Kyrgyzstan and bottom team Taiwan in June if it is to achieve its main mission.
The two defeats to Oman also saw Harimau Malaya went without a win in five matches since the 2023 Asian Cup campaign in Qatar last January after losing to Jordan and Bahrain before drawing with South Korea in the group stage. — Bernama
