All grown up: Malaysia's young core back for another Pre-Qualifiers run

ULAANBATAAR (Mongolia) - It's understandable if you lost track of the Malaysia national team in the recent years. They were able to qualify through the Pre-Qualifiers in the previous cycle, but were unable to advance any further to make it to the main event in Indonesia.

However, they are back here to make another run at the competition - starting back at square one here at the Pre-Qualifiers - and it might not be wise to quickly count them out of another deep run.

Here's something that Asia Cup fans might have already forgotten: At the previous Pre-Qualifiers, Malaysia beat Indonesia and then went toe to toe with Thailand. That team had an average age of around 22-23 years at that time and that core is back here in Mongolia, armed with more experience.

"Our team's strength is chemistry because most of us have been playing together for a long time," said Jeff Viernes.

One of the key differences from the Pre-Qualifiers run in 2019 is the chance of head coach from Brian Lester to Viernes. Despite being new to the head coaching role at the national team level, the Filipino head coach should not have any problem connecting with the players. Over the past years, Viernes has already been coaching most of these players at the professional club, Negeri Semibilan (NS) Matrix, in Malaysia.

As a matter of fact, the connection between Viernes and the likes of the team's stars like Wong Yi Hou, Ting Chun Hong, and Kuek Tian Yuan goes even deeper than between coaching staff and player.

"Being the head coach of this team was special for me because most of the players used to be my teammates before for almost 5 years already," he said.

Viernes' career as a journeyman point guard has ventured him across the Southeast Asia region, starting from the Philippines and moving along to Thailand, Singapore, and eventually Malaysia. It was in Malaysia where he found a home, first assuming the role of a veteran point guard before transitioning to be in the position he is at right now, leading the national team as a head coach.

As Viernes has grown into his role, the players have grown into their bigger roles as well.

Ting, for example, led Malaysia in scoring during the last Pre-Qualifiers with 13.6 points per game at the age of 23 years old. The man they call "Mei Mei" is already making a name for himself as Malaysia's main man in international tournaments, most recently being awarded MVP of the FilBasket International Championship with a strong performance that led his team to the title.

Then there are, of course, other younger players in the mix like Tem Zhen Jie who earned the nickname "Malaysian Terrence Romeo".

These players have taken the time to hone their craft with the opportunities that present itself whether it's competitions against international teams or even in the country. Now is the time to showcase how far they've come in the national team setting. Coach Viernes, at the very least, is confident that his players can put their significant development on display.

"I can see the improvement especially on their skills and even their shooting," Viernes enthusiastically mentioned. "Hopefully we can consistently play aggressive defense and we shoot well through this qualifiers."

"I think Malaysian players now can impress others because they have the skills and energy that can entertain the fans!"

While it would be great for Malaysia to entertain the fans at UG Arena in Ulaanbataar, they would also like to be winning those games as well. The Harimau will be going up against some stiff competition whether it is Thailand, Vietnam, Tahiti, and hosts Mongolia.

Once again, Viernes is filled with confidence in his players.

"To be honest, being the coach of the national team in this Pre-Qualifiers, I'm expecting that we will be showing a totally different team than before. Hopefully, we will be able to get as many wins and advance to the Second Round. We hope to be able to achieve that in Mongolia."

FIBA