Vingada shifts focus to HK after travel ban
PETALING JAYA: The focus is now on Hong Kong.
National coach Eduardo Vingada has been forced to turn his attention to Hong Kong after their 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers Group B match against North Korea in Pyongyang on Oct 5 has been postponed – again.
As such, the Portuguese has to prepare the team for the match against Hong Kong, which will be played at the Hong Kong Stadium on Oct 10.
Malaysia drew 1-1 with Hong Kong in the home-leg at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka on Sept 6.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), said in a statement yesterday, that they have decided to postpone the Oct 5 match in Pyongyang after being informed by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had issued a travel ban on Malaysians visiting North Korea.
The Foreign Ministry said that all Malaysians are banned from travelling to North Korea until further notice.
The decision was made in view of the “escalation of tensions” in the Korean Peninsula and related developments arising from the country’s missile tests.
FAM general secretary Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said they had informed AFC that the national team would be unable to travel to Pyongyang due to the directive from the Foreign Ministry.
“The AFC have requested for an official letter on this matter and it was sent at noon today,” he said, adding that the AFC had consented to their request for a postponement.
He said the national team were supposed to leave for Pyongyang via SingaporeBeijing on Tuesday.
The latest development has also seen FAM revising the national team’s training camp dates.
The national players will now report for training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya on Oct 4 and leave for Hong Kong on Oct 6.
This is the second time that the North Korea-Malaysia match has been postponed. The match was initially scheduled to be held at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang on March 28.
But FAM requested for the match to be changed to a neutral venue following a diplomatic crisis caused by the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea ruler Kim Jong-un, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb 13.