JAKARTA, Sept 4 — Malaysia’s mission to qualify for the World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 begins tomorrow night when the national squad under head coach Tan Cheng Hoe is put to the test against traditional rivals Indonesia at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

This is the opening match of Group G second-round World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 qualifier after Malaysia easily defeated Timor Leste 12-2 in aggregate in the first round qualifier at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last June.

Malaysia and Indonesia have met at the international level 95 times since 1957, with Malaysia winning 35, drawing 21 and losing 39.

But Cheng Hoe refuses to take the record and history as a benchmark in his bid to win three valuable points and is looking forward to a positive outcome at the Garuda’s fortress tomorrow.

"Records favour Indonesia and actually it is not easy to face them, especially when we are playing at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

"We have to move on to open a new chapter because the squad have a different set of coaches and players compared to before,” he said at a pre-match media conference here today.

Malaysia’s last win over Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was in the semi-final of the 2014 AFF Cup, where the national squad under Hungarian coach Bertalan Bicskei scored a 2-1 win.

In this regard, Cheng Hoe is looking forward to his appearance as the national coach at the stadium tomorrow after witnessing the untoward incident when he was an assistant coach during the 2010 AFF Cup match.

For the record, Malaysia won the 2010 edition of the AFF Cup after defeating Indonesia 4-2 over two legs in the final. — Bernama