By MOHD FARIQ

AFTER sampling the king of fruits that is the durian, Kim Pan-gon has returned to Hong Kong to enjoy a well-deserved break.

The 53-year old South Korean, who became the first foreigner to guide Malaysia to the AFC Asian Cup finals after a grueling week in June, is set to be re-united with his family in Hong Kong and fly this morning.

While the rest of his coaching staff had taken a break earlier, Pan-gon has been going to the office until this week, often accompanied only by the national team department manager.

Insiders suggest Pan-gon had been under the weather not long after the qualifying campaign which saw his charges beat Turkmenistan 3-1, lose 2-1 to Bahrain and beat Bangladesh 4-1 to earn a ticket to the finals as one of the best-placed group runners-up.

Pan-gon and his coaching team had been working doubly hard to whip the team into shape to such an extent that most of them went down with fever and fatigue following the team’s victory over Bangladesh.

The South Korean, meanwhile, has decided to lie low and avoid the media.

His only appearance had been at the obligatory media conference, pre and post-match.

He has been entertaining questions pertaining to his team but avoids issues and controversies, particularly on the conversation with Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

Returning to Hong Kong will provide Pan-gon enough room to chart his next course of action.

While waiting for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 draw and the hosts to be determined in October, Pan-gon has given the assurance to Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin he has solid plans in the pipeline.

A quadrangular tournament organised by the Thailand FA is being considered in September, otherwise Pan Gon may stick to the plan of travelling to Hong Kong and Taiwan to assess his group of players ahead of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup scheduled after the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

Between now and September, Pan-gon is expected to continue monitoring up to 70 players he and his coaching panel had been keeping tabs on.

Pan-gon, Pau Marti, E. Elavarasan, Dr Gokhan Kandemir, performance analyst Lim Jae-hun and goalkeeper coach Cho Jun Ho had been scouring the country to evaluate players they think could fit into his tactical plans.

As illustrated by his tinkering tactics and not relying on the same line-up, Pan Gon is expected to also monitor those who dropped from the final squad and those on the standby list.

His selection headache may include the decision on the future of Guilherme de Paula and Liridon Krasniqi, with Mohammadou Sumareh the only naturalised player who earned his place with a gritty display.

De Paula, who has not played a single match at Johor Darul Ta’zim, may have made his last appearance.

In the face of criticism for calling-up De Paula for the qualifying campaign, Pan-gon told the management team that he wanted to evaluate the Brazilian-born forward in the flesh and in action as the latter had not been featured at league level this season.

Surely based on the campaign, Pan Gon has identified the core of his team, with Syamer Kutty Abba, Safawi Rasid, Akhyar Rashid, Dion Cools, Corbin Ong, Azam Azih, Faisal Halim, Syafiq Ahmad and Darren Lok the cornerstones to his plans.

With JDT’s foray into the Asian Champions League’s knockout stages and KL City and Kedah Darul Aman FC’s AFC Cup adventure, Pan Gon has an interesting period to assess the possibilities.

On top of this, the FAM workforce is also beginning to understand Pan Gon’s demands and plans, having seen his work ethics yield the desired results.

Until his arrival back in Kuala Lumpur on July 23, Pan-gon has the opportunity to recharge his batteries and re-think his options.

With Hamidin fully supportive of Pan-gon’s ideas, the South Korean may still have the chance to sample more durians then.