FOLLOWING Malaysia’s successes in recent age-group competitions, the senior squad will be out to make a lasting impression in the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers, which start next month.
Although Tan Cheng Hoe’s side only have to contend with one non-Asean team in the United Arab Emirates in Group G, it would still be a challenging outing against reigning AFF Cup champions Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
Arch-rivals Indonesia have strengthened their squad with six naturalised players in Otavio Dutra, Victor Igbonefo, Stefano Lilipaly, Greg Nwokolo, Alberto Goncalves and Osas Saha for their opening match against Malaysia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Sept 5.
Apart from the naturalised players, Indonesia have other quality players in Andik Vermansyah and Evan Dimas.
Cheng Hoe, however, is unperturbed and believes his team can beat Indonesia.
“Every team in the qualifiers are hoping to play in the 2022 World Cup, so, understandably, they have called up their best players.
“Indonesia look strong but I do not want to think about them. The focus is on preparing my players for this opening match.
“We, however, need to be wary as we are playing away. Indonesia are always tough to play against in Jakarta,” said Cheng Hoe.
After Indonesia, Cheng Hoe’s side will entertain UAE at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Sept 10.
UAE manager Bert van Marwijk has included Emirati midfielder Omar Abdulrahman, popularly known as “Maradona of the Middle East”, for their opening game against Malaysia.
Four years ago, Omar, a former Asian Player of the Year, ran rings around the Malaysians in a World Cup qualifier in Abu Dhabi, setting up eight of the 10 goals, which led to the immediate resignation of then national coach Dollah Salleh.
“UAE are the group favourites and we will have to treat them cautiously in Bukit Jalil.
“Our players need to be brave and vocal in this match. Omar is a fantastic player.
“Although he is known as the Maradona of the Middle East, he actually plays like Lionel Messi.
“We will definitely have to mark him. I have already reminded my players not to give him space to operate.
“The key to this game is to play possession football. We also need to avoid making individual mistakes not only against the UAE but also other teams.”
Cheng Hoe also singled out Thailand’s attacking midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin as a player who could spoil Malaysia’s chances of reaching the next round.
Chanathip, who is known as “Thai Messi” is currently playing in Japan’s J1 League for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo.
“Chanathip is a good dribbler and passes the ball well. He is doing really well in Japan and he will be inspired to help Thailand reach far in the qualifiers.
“We defeated Thailand in last year’s AFF Cup on away goals in the semi-finals, so I believe they will be out for revenge,” Cheng Hoe added.
Malaysia will travel to Hanoi to face Vietnam on Oct 10 before taking on Thailand in Bukit Jalil on Nov 14 to complete the first round of group matches.
The group winners and the four best runners-ups (totalling 12 teams) will advance to the Asian Cup and also the final round of the World Cup qualifiers.
The remaining 24 slots for the Asian Cup will be decided in a separate competition.