DOHA, Jan 27 — Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin has called on all parties to stop pointing fingers and look on the positive side of things despite Malaysia’s less-than-encouraging performance in the 2023 Asian Cup Finals here.

He said that in football, it’s normal for a team to lose a game but the important thing is to learn how to manage it and bounce back a better team.

"In football, it’s not easy to win all the time. Sometimes, we lose and we must bounce back. When we lose, make it a lesson and we must rise again, we must work harder. I told all the players and (head coach Kim) Pan Gon that when we lose, don’t blame anyone.

"When you lose, there are surely weaknesses but we must at it in totality... the media and fans must give their total backing for the team to become strong again. This is not my team, this team is for all Malaysians,” he told a media conference on the Harimau Malaya’s performance in the ongoing Asian Cup Finals.

Hamidin cited Asian giants Japan and South Korea as examples, saying that even both these teams suffered defeats in the ongoing tournament before bouncing back to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Meanwhile, Hamidin does not consider the national team’s Asian Cup campaign this time a failure despite them finishing at the bottom of Group E with just one point and failing to make the last 16.

"I won’t say it is a failure. We are (back) on this stage after such a long time and the players gained a lot of experience here and realise they need to continue to raise their quality of performance,” he said.

Malaysia began their 2023 Asian Cup campaign with a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Jordan and a narrow 1-0 loss to Bahrain before producing a remarkable performance to hold two-time champions South Korea 3-3 in their final group match.

Hamidin said they would conduct a post-mortem to take an in-depth look at the team’s weaknesses and study ways to improve the team to ensure they are at their best for the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers in March.

He said FAM and Pan Gon have talked about sending the team for a centralised training camp and a series of friendlies either in Malaysia or abroad, with one of the venues being Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He said this is to ensure the national players achieve peak form because, otherwise, they will have to wait until May for the new Malaysia League (M-League) season to kick off to play competitively.

"We now have six points from two matches (in the Qualifiers) and four matches left. So, we must not let go of this opportunity to make history by advancing to the third round (of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers) and be among the 18 teams to check in early to Saudi Arabia (for the 2027 Asian Cup).

"Preparations for the matches in March are crucial, we are working on arranging friendlies either in Malaysia or elsewhere before heading for Oman (for the Qualifiers),” he said.

Malaysia are on the right track to qualify for the third qualifying round of the World Cup for the first time as they lead Group D with six points after defeating Kyrgyzstan 4-3 and Taiwan 1-0 last November.

The Harimau Malaya are scheduled to face Oman in Muscat on March 21 and host the return leg tie on March 26 before taking on Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek on June 6 and completing their Group D fixtures with a home game against Taiwan on June 11.

In a separate development, Hamidin denied claims of an "invisible hand” meddling in team affairs at the Asian Cup here. — Bernama