MALAYSIA SUFFER DROP IN WORLD RANKING

Vingada’s team fall behind Singapore

DEVINDER SINGH devinder@nstp.com.my Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates as the national team languished bottom of Group B with one point from five matches with only leaders Lebanon left to play away next March.

Malaysia are tied for 174th with Kosovo and St Lucia on 97 points as Singapore and Cambodia moved ahead of the national team to leave coach Nelo Vingada's side ranked eighth in Asean.

It is the national team's worst ranking since Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim became FAM president in March, and matched the country's worst-ever position of No 174 reached in April and May last year.

Malaysia climbed briefly to No 156 in November last year under then-coach Ong Kim Swee but the national team's ranking has dropped precipitously after Vingada took over, when the national team peaked in June at 155th.

Portuguese Vingada has made the worst start of any of Malaysia's national coaches after seven international matches over the past 30 years.

A poll by NSTP Sport saw 61 per cent of 1,100 respondents voting for Vingada to be sacked.

The national team have not won in their last 10 international matches, including seven under Vingada, since beating Cambodia 3-2 in November last year at the AFF Cup.

Malaysia only managed a 0-0 draw against the Philippines in a friendly and a 1-1 draw against Hong Kong in an Asian Cup qualifier during that run.

The current winless run is Malaysia's longest since 2003-04 under Allan Harris and K. Rajagobal, the latter in a caretaker capacity, when they combined for a 10-match winless run.