KUALA LUMPUR: National football coach Kim Pan Gon said he had heard that Turkmenistan and Hong Kong want revenge against Malaysia.
And it is Pan Gon's job to ensure that the two countries do not succeed. World No 145 Malaysia are due to play world No 135 Turkmenistan and world No 146 Hong Kong in the March 20-28 Fifa window.
Last year, Harimau Malaya tamed Turkmenistan 3-1 in an Asian Cup qualifier and Hong Kong 2-0 in an international friendly.
"Turkmenistan are a good team, and they are ranked above us. I heard they are coming for revenge because they were quite upset to lose to us. I welcome their challenge," said Pan Gon.
"I also met with the Hong Kong coach (Jorn Andersen) a couple of weeks ago during my holiday. He said he felt like Hong Kong can beat us that time but they lost.
"They (Hong Kong) did not bring their best team then, but this time they will do so. This will be a good competitive match," added Pan Gon who was a Hong Kong national coach.
To keep Malaysia's world ranking stable, Pan Gon said he plans to arrange for Harimau Malaya to play friendlies against one higher and one lower ranked foreign teams.
Pan Gon said he is confident Malaysia can maintain their position as among the top 25 teams in Asia come September in order to reach the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup group stage qualifiers.