IF age does make a difference in the Asian Cup, Malaysia could be on the wrong side of the statistics.
Harimau Malaya are rated as having the fourth oldest team in the 24-nation Asian Cup starting in Doha, Qatar, tomorrow.
With an average squad age of 28.73 years old, the 26-man Malaysian team are older than 20 other teams in the continental showpiece.
Eleven Malaysia players are said to be 30 years old and above.
The youngest team at the Asian Cup are Indonesia at 24.33, and the oldest are Lebanon at 29.76.
Sports observer Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli said this could be a cause for concern, but on the other hand,
modern football can accommodate the age factor.
"An older age indicates that the fitness of these players is declining or that they have exceeded their peak. According to the data, it could be cause for concern in terms of performance.
"Malaysia have 11 players who are in the age range of 30 and above. "
The oldest is Natxo Insa (38) followed by Brendan Gan (36), Paulo Josue (35), Darren Lok, La'Vere Corbin-Ong and Junior Eldstal (33). The youngest is Arif Aiman Hanapi at 22.
"But the talk about age is always debated among researchers and data analysts. Many have discarded the relevance to performance as football is a team sport involving 11 players.
"Although half of the squad is aged 30 and above, it is tough to measure individual performance because a single footballer could influence the game, being among a larger quantity of players. This means, their performances will be influenced by their surroundings."
British-French writer Simon Kruper, who once studied "footballers' age versus playing minutes", concluded that those who are older, need more playing minutes to reach the peak of their performance.
"In reference to Harimau Malaya, we have plenty of 'aged' players but they have less minutes which could raise concerns as well," said Pekan.
"If we look at European clubs, Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) would not sign players aged 30 and above.
"Whatever the difference in average age, it's considered an important factor in a short-term competition such as the Asian Cup that will see the balance between experience, fitness level, individual abilities and maturity."
Malaysia are scheduled to play Jordan (Jan 15), Bahrain (Jan 20) and South Korea (Jan 25) in Group E.
Meanwhile Opta Sports analysed that Malaysia have only 0.2 per cent chance of winning the Asian Cup while Hong Kong are the least likeliest team to win the quadrennial tournament at 0.1 per cent.
Opta's super computer's winning percentage for Japan is 24.6%, South Korea (14.3%), Iran (11.2%), Australia (10.7%) and Saudi Arabia (10.6%).
Average squad age of Asian Cup teams (from youngest to oldest)
1. Indonesia 24.33 years old
2. Tajikistan 24.62
3. Kyrgyzstan 24.99
4. Vietnam 25.38
5. United Arab Emirates 25.97
6. Iraq 26.12
7. Japan 26.20
8. Uzbekistan 26.39
9. Saudi Arabia 26.69
10. Australia 27.06
11. India 27.25
12. Palestine 27.27
13. Hong Kong 27.86
14. Jordan 27.96
15. Oman 27.97
16. South Korea 28.02
17. Qatar 28.30
18. Bahrain 28.32
19. Syria 28.33
20. Thailand 28.34
21. Malaysia 28.73
22. China 29.17
23. Iran 29.52
24. Lebanon 29.76