KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed Asian Nations League is feared will close the door for the national squad in testing themselves to see just how good they really are against other national teams who are ranked much higher.
This concern was voiced out by Harimau Malaya coach Tan Cheng Hoe after staring at the possibility that his charges will only be grouped in League C if the competition format between national teams is implemented in the future.
“The proposal is actually quite a good move because it will enable national teams to play more competitively,” said Cheng Hoe. “However if it is looked at from the perspective of categories, we will most likely play in League C.
“So we will not have the option of playing friendly matches against other national teams that are rated to be much stronger than us. Our players must have the opportunity to play against much better teams if they are to improve their game and show just how they have improved in the first place.
“With a few other Southeast Asian national teams in the same category, perhaps it could work against us in time to come.”
Before this, NSTP Sport had reported that if the intentions of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to organize an Asian Nations League do materialise, Malaysia will need to work very hard as the national team is expected to play in League C.
This analysis was made based on the current Fifa world ranking for all the 46 national teams across the Asian continent where Chen Hoe’s charges will end up being placed in the third tier or league following the national team’s poor ranking position of 171.
Apart from Malaysia, League C will also be made up of national teams from countries such as Turkmenistan, Yemen, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Nepal, Indonesia and Singapore.
All the national teams in each League will be drawn to be part of four smaller groups except for League D, which will only have three groups. Therefore Malaysia do have a chance of avoiding playing against fellow Southeast Asian teams once the draw has been carried out.