Harimau Malaya to hold six friendlies as AFF Cup preparations

KUALA LUMPUR: The national football squad, Harimau Malaya are scheduled to have six international A friendly matches as preparations for the 2018 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretarygeneral, Datuk Hamidin Mohamad Amin said the squad under Tan Cheng Hoe would be meeting Fiji on July 5 at Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras followed by a match against Taiwan on September 7 in Taipei.

Later the team will be going to Phnom Penh on October 10 to play against Cambodia and Sri Lanka in Colombo on Oct 12 before the match against the Kyrgyz Republic on October 16 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Hamidin said the last international A match was also being planned for November 3 in Kuala Lumpur even though the opposing team have not been decided before the national squad face Cambodia in Phnom Penh for their AFF Suzuki Cup opening match on November 8.

“The six international A friendly matches will be the best platform to improve the current standing of Malaysia at 171st position in the world apart from being a testing ground for Cheng Hoe to prepare the team for the AFF Cup.

“Hopefully all plans will yield positive results for Harimau Malaya in their AFF Suzuki Cup campaign,” he said in a statement here today.

Malaysia have been drawn into group A with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and 2008 champions Vietnam in the tournament from November 8 to December 15.

For the record, Malaysia have only emerged as champions in 2010 under Datuk K. Rajagobal after the national squad defeated hosts, Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate in two final matches. - Bernama