The revival era of the Malaysian team with coach Kim Pan-gon has stopped after the Korean coach suddenly resigned on July 16. Mr. Kim Pan-gon has held the position of coach of the Malaysian team since June 2022 and achieved certain achievements. Currently, FAM has not clearly stated the reason for the Korean strategist's withdrawal, but many revealed information may be due to disagreements between the two sides on some policies for developing the team.
Mr. Kim Pan-gon suddenly resigned as coach of the Malaysian team.
Previously, Mr. Kim Pan-gon had declared his willingness to lead Malaysia until the end of his contract in December 2025. But according to Malaysian press, this coach decided to resign due to too much pressure.
In fact, after replacing Tan Cheng Hoe, coach Kim Pan-gon has achieved many achievements when making a small revolution for Harimau Malaya (the nickname of the Malaysian team) towards future success. The Malaysian team has risen from 154th to 135th in the world since Kim Pan-gon took over. Malaysia's achievements in the 2023 Asian Cup and the 2nd qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup are also not too bad.
According to Malaysian media, Kim Pan-gon’s departure could lead to a re-do of the Malaysian team’s overhaul. What’s more worrying is that FAM immediately appointed a coach with little coaching experience to replace the Korean.
Accordingly, as soon as Kim Pan-gon resigned, FAM immediately appointed Pau Marti Vicente as his replacement. This Spanish coach has been Kim Pan-gon's assistant in the Malaysian team since February 17, 2022.
Pau Marti Vicente (left) replaces coach Kim Pan-gon to lead the Malaysian team.
However, the appointment of Pau Marti Vicente is considered quite risky. The 40-year-old strategist still has very little experience as he has only been the head coach of Tai Chung Club once. The reason FAM chose Marti is because he has led the U.19 and Barcelona B teams, so he has a broader view in assessing the potential of young players towards long-term plans. However, with the leadership of the Malaysian team, this young coach must achieve certain achievements if he does not want to face criticism. Therefore, the path of overhauling the Malaysian team by coach Pau Marti Vicente has many concerns.
The next tournament that Pau Marti Vicente will take charge of is Pestabola Merdeka 2024 in September, followed by the AFF Cup 2024. The strategist's ability will be assessed by the results in these two tournaments. Next will be the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers taking place from March 2025 to March 2026.
The good news is that Kim Pan-gon's assistants in the Malaysian team have not resigned yet. This will more or less help Pau Marti Vicente in developing the implementation plan.
The situation Malaysia is facing with changing coaches is similar to Vietnam and Thailand, as it will more or less disrupt the development of the national team. Currently in Southeast Asian football, only Indonesia has a stable national team coach when Mr. Shin Tae-yong has just had his contract extended until 2027.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truyen-thong-malaysia-lo-lang-ve-tan-hlv-doi-tuyen-quoc-gia-thay-the-kim-pan-gon-185240717164019126.htm
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