National football coach Tan Cheng Hoe will not make any changes to the present national squad for the friendly Grade A match against Bhutan at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Sunday (April 1).
This comes in the wake of Malaysia’s encouraging performance despite the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Lebanon in their final Group B match in the Asia Cup qualifier in Beirut on Tuesday.
Malaysia finished the qualifier without a win and at the bottom of the group with only one point. The defeat also saw Malaysia still searching for their first win in international matches since December 2016 when they beat Cambodia 3-2 in the Suzuki Cup competition.
Come Sunday, Malaysia will play another Grade A friendly at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil – the same venue where Malaysia surrendered the lead twice in their 2-2 draw against Mongolia last March 22.
Cheng Hoe, who took over the hot-seat from Portuguese Nelo Vingada, was surprised with the “commitment, discipline, pride, confidence and willingness” to play shown by his new look team, mostly made up of young talent, except for players like Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak, who wore the skipper’s armband in Beirut and Mahali Jasuli.
Another senior who was in the squad to Beirut was goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat but did not take the field.
However, Cheng Hoe, lamented on Malaysia’s tendency of conceding late goals and this perennial disease showed up once again when Lebanon snatched a late injury time winner through Hilal El-Helwe for a 2-1 win.
Malaysia drew level through Syafiq Ahmad on 72 minutes to wipe Lebanon’s 18th minute lead through skipper Hassan Maatouk via a penalty.
“Hopefully, this will not happen against Bhutan,” said the former Kedah coach who wants Harimau Malaya to end the winless streak for a new beginning for the national team.
Malaysia are ranked 178 – an all-time low for the country. Bhutan are ranked 188 but Cheng Hoe is not underrating the Himalaya nation after the 2-2 draw against Mongolia (189).
“The confidence shown against Lebanon gives me and the team hope that we can achieve a positive result against Bhutan. But here again we have to grab the scoring opportunities that we create and at the same time tighten our backline,” added Cheng Hoe.BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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