Malaysia U.23 team coach suddenly resigns

After his surprise resignation, Mr. Elavarasan hopes that his successor can take the U.23 Malaysia team to a new level at the AFC U-23 Championship in Doha (Qatar) next year. Elavarasan, also known as Ela, decided to resign on September 19 despite leading the U.23 Malaysia team to a ticket to the AFC U-23 Championship 2024. The U.23 Malaysia team qualified for the finals as one of the four best second-placed teams in the qualifying round after losing 0-1 to Thailand U-23 and defeating U.23 Bangladesh (2-0) and the Philippines (4-0) in their group.

HLV đội tuyển U.23 Malaysia bất ngờ từ chức - Ảnh 1. — Malaysia U.23 coach, Elavarasan decided to resign

Some Malaysian fans later called for Mr. Elavarasan to resign after the unconvincing performance of the U.23 team in recent times. The coach said he left the U.23 Malaysia team with his head held high after achieving the goals set by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

"Any decision made by the FAM board of directors is accepted by me because we want the best for the team and the country. The FAM president and I have decided to let another coach take the team to a new level at the 2024 AFC U-23 Championship," said coach Elavarasan after resigning. Mr. Elavarasan, who was an assistant to national team head coach Kim Pan-gon, was appointed to lead the U-23 team in September last year.

HLV đội tuyển U.23 Malaysia bất ngờ từ chức - Ảnh 2. — U.23 Malaysia (yellow shirt) has had unstable performance recently.

However, the 61-year-old's time in charge of the Malaysia U23 team has been difficult. He had little time to prepare and the team failed to advance past the group stage of the SEA Games in May, and they could only finish fourth at the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok last month.

With the U.23 tournament not taking place during FIFA Days, Ela had difficulty in calling up some key players from their clubs. Among them, U.23 Malaysia stars playing in Europe such as Luqman Hakim Shamsudin and Nooa Laine could only join the team 2 days before the recent U.23 Asian qualifiers in Chonburi.

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