National head coach Tan Cheng Hoe speaks to the media during a training session for Harimau Malaya in preparation for the Group G second round World Cup 2022/Asia Cup 2023 qualifier September 5, 2019. — Bernama pic
PETALING JAYA, Nov 11 — The Harimau Malaya may have to forget their intention to play a warm up match against Timor Leste ahead of the 2020 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Cup, slated to kick off December 5 in Singapore.
Head coach, Tan Cheng Hoe lamented that time constraints due to the tight schedule of the Malaysia Cup 2021, with the final match to be held Nov 30, was the main reason why the warm up match against Timor Leste was deemed highly unlikely.
“As a coach, we need a warm up match before any tournament starts but I don’t see we are going to have it due to the Malaysia Cup 2021 tight schedule,” he told reporters when met here, today.
Meanwhile, team manager Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi said Malaysia’s arrival in Singapore on December 3 before the first Group B match against Cambodia on December 6 made it difficult for them to arrange the warm-up match against Timor Leste.
He did not rule out the possibility that the match could take place if the national team arrived earlier in Singapore on December 1 compared to the December 3 date set by the organisers.
Yesterday, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had tried to ensure that the national squad get at least one warm-up match before starting their AFF Cup 2020 campaign.
FAM secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar was reported to have said that so far, the Timor Leste team were the main choice as an opponent to test the level of ability of Cheng Hoe’s charges.
Mohd Yusof has also suggested to Cheng Hoe to call up any player who is not tied to any Malaysia Cup match to join the national squad training camp ahead of the tournament in Singapore after the quarter-finals of the prestigious local football tournament.
“I discussed with Cheng Hoe that after the quarter-finals,any players we have be called as soon as possible for him to prepare, then we add other players after the Malaysia Cup final,” he said.
In the AFF Cup 2020, Malaysia who are drawn in Group B, dubbed the “group of death”, will open their campaign against Cambodia on December 6, followed by Laos (December 9) and two epic clashes against Vietnam (December 12) and Indonesia (December 19) in the quest to grab a slot in the semi -finals.
Since its inception in 1996, Malaysia have only emerged champions once, in 2010 when they beat Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate. — Bernama