BLOW TO SENTIMENTAL FANS
FAM are not able to revive the Merdeka Tournament this year
FOR the sentimental fans of Malaysian football, they will have to keep yearning. That is because the FA of Malaysia (FAM) won’t be able to stage the Merdeka Tournament, the oldest in Asia (incepted in 1957) this year.
FAM will instead organise a new tournament called AirMarine Cup on March 20-23 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Before Merdeka Tournament fans cry foul, FAM deputy president Datuk Yusoff Mahadi made it clear that the hallowed event has not been sidelined.
He admitted that due to the Merdeka Tournament’s sentimental value, it will not be replaced or rebranded as what was hinted earlier.
Datuk Yusoff said the two-day competition will only serve as an additional competition for the national team to improve their Fifa rankings.
“The Merdeka Tournament has a sentimental and different value, and we don’t want the AirMarine Cup to be their replacement. It’s just an add-on to our calendar for the national team to play.
“We want to maintain the value and tradition, so this tournament (AirMarine Cup) will give our national team more chances to play at an international level.
“We don’t want to disrupt tradition but I don’t see it happening this year. It’s not that we can’t organise it but the problem is that the teams are involved in a tight schedule. Those who want to participate can’t agree because of the packed calendar.”
In this year’s football calendar, the closest Fifa days to August 31 are September 2-9 while 2020 will see the stretch starting on Aug 31-Sept 7, tentatively.
Yusoff said with FAM’s target of making Malaysia one of the top five teams in Asia, the inception of the AirMarine Cup is in line with their 12-year roadmap, the F:30.
But due to the clash of dates between the competition and the 2020 AFC Under-23 qualifiers (March 18-26), Yusoff said national coach Tan Cheng Hoe will not have his pick of the National Under-23 players with priority given to national youth coach, Ong Kim Swee.
“Kim Swee has requested for us to allow him to have the Under-23 players as he is to assemble a good team for the AFC and we (FAM) have informed Cheng Hoe to choose other players who are available.
“We have plenty who are over the age of 23 who can be enrolled for the team,” he said.
The 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers will see Malaysia in Group H alongside China, Laos and the Philippines with the first match against the Azkals on March 22 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.