National Under 22 (U-22) football squad head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee has urged his side not to take China's U-22 squad lightly when both teams meet in a friendly match at the Xiangtan Sports Centre Stadium in China, tomorrow.

He pointed out that although both teams shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Dubai Cup U-23 football meet in United Arab Emirates in March, tomorrow's match would certainly be a different ball game as both teams made major changes with their respective teams after the tournament.

"I believe this friendly match is also important for China considering they would hosting the final round of the 2018 AFC U-23 football tournament, next year," Kim Swee told a pre-match press conference, today.

The audio recording of the press conference was also made available to Bernama.

Sharing his views was the team's skipper, Mohd Adib Zainuddin who hoped his teammates would give their best in the match.

"I hope all the players will give their best in the match as we are preparing for the SEA Games and also the AFC U-23 qualifier tournament," said the Felcra FC centreback.

After the match against China's U-22 squad, Kim Swee's boys will take on Guangzhou R&F's reserve squad and the Guangzhou Evergrande reserve team before returning home on June 13.

The China tour is part of the team's preparation before taking part in the 2018 AFC U-23 qualifier, to be held from July 19-23 and also the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August.

Malaysia have been drawn in Group H with two ASEAN rivals - Thailand and Indonesia and also Mongolia in the 2018 AFC U-23 qualifier which will be played in Thailand.

-- BERNAMA