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Olympic Squad Must Show Maturity, Confidence In Their Game To Overcome Opponents - Shabery

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 (Bernama) -- The Olympic squad must show maturity and confidence in their game to win their return leg against Lebanon at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Thursday (June 23).

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said though the ability of coach Ong Kim Swee to hold Lebanon to a scoreless draw at their own backyard was a good result, they should be able to be more adventurous when playing at home.

"I saw the players were adopting to a more defensive style of play in the first half and only launched attacks in the second half although they did not score any goals.

"The experience and exposure will come in handy but their maturity in the game will be a deciding factor," he told reporters after watching the match which was telecast live from Beirut, with about 1,000 fans at Dataran Merdeka late last night.

The match which ended in a 0-0 draw was the second round of the Olympic Qualifier, aimed at earning a ticket to the 2012 London Olympics.

Malaysia beat Pakistan 2-0 on aggregate in the first round to earn a place in the second round.

The last time Malaysia qualified to play in the Olympics was during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, 31 years ago, but Malaysia did not play after joining a boycott by a number of countries to protest Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Malaysia had however, qualified and played in the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany but lost to the host in their opening match.

-- BERNAMA

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