KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — Malaysia must play more matches against higher-ranked teams if they want to test their strength and see progress in their performance.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi that, as such, the Harimau Malaya could not continue to organise friendlies against lower-ranked teams.
He added that the team’s focus now was to ensure that the players continue to improve over time.
“Sometimes, from the perspective of coaching, we may need to play against lower-ranked teams. It means that because we want more high-intensity matches, occasionally there will be a need to take on lower-ranked teams,” he explained recently.
However, Mohd Yusoff, who is also the national team manager, warned that playing against higher-ranked teams could be detrimental to the players’ confidence should they fail to get positive results.
He pointed out that the Harimau Malaya, under head coach Tan Cheng Hoe, are beginning to attract the attention of higher-ranked teams but they are unable to organise friendlies due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Mohd Yusoff, some of the higher-ranked teams who have expressed their intentions to play against the Harimau Malaya included Iran, the highest-ranked team in Asia at world number 22, Palestine (world number 99) and India (world number 107).
“Previously, we had difficulty finding good teams to play against us but now the scenario has changed. Many good teams now want to play against us but the problem is that the matches cannot be held here because of the stipulated SOP.
“If we want to play over there, we will be quarantined when we return home. That will be a problem because the players still have games to play for their local teams in domestic tournaments,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia are set to take on Jordan and Uzbekistan in Tier 1 international friendlies in Amman, Jordan during the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) international friendly window from October 4-12, during which period the Malaysia Cup will put on hold.
World number 154 Malaysia will take on Jordan (world number 93) at the King Abdullah ll Stadium on Wednesday (October 6) and Uzbekistan (world number 84) at the Amman International Stadium on Saturday (October 9). — Bernama
