HISTORY favours the brave and that will be Malaysia’s war cry against Vietnam in a World Cup qualifier in Hanoi tomorrow.
And the man leading the Malaysian attack, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, will undoubtedly be inspired by the heroics of history.
For the last time Malaysia beat Vietnam was five years ago with Norshahrul playing a key role in that success, scoring a goal in the 4-2 win over the Golden Dragons in the AFF Cup semi-finals.
Since then, World No 158 Malaysia have been unable to overcome World No 99 Vietnam, losing their previous two meetings at My Dinh Stadium, 2-0 and 1-0 in the AFF Cup last year.
Now 33 years of age, Norshahrul found himself the centre of attention of the Vietnamese media yesterday, as they see him a big threat
He is experienced enough to know the kind of danger from Vietnam than what Indonesia did in Malaysia’s last away match in Group G. Malaysia had won 3-2 against the Garuda.
“There’s no problem with the training here (in Hanoi) thus far. The team are ready physically and mentally to face Vietnam,” said Norshahrul.
“The result against Sri Lanka (Malaysia won 6-0 in a friendly on Sunday) cannot be used as a gauge for this game (against Vietnam).
Being national coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s preferred choice to start as Malaysia’s main striker, there is a lot of pressure on Norshahrul to crack the Vietnam defence.
But the Pahang player believes he and his teammates have what it takes to upstage the Golden Dragons in their lair for Malaysia’s second win in the group.
“If the coach selects me to start, then for sure I’ll be giving my all to the team. At the same time I hope to see everyone giving 100 per cent to the cause.
“It is not important who scores. What is important is that we play together as a team and only then we can think about taking a positive result back to Malaysia,” he added.
The Malaysian team arrived in Hanoi on Monday and have gone through two training sessions on the pitch within the Vietnam Football Federation compound without any issue.
As it is with previous matches between the two teams, the local interest is very high with hordes of Vietnamese media covering the two training sessions.