Will the fans give the Pasukan Kebangsaan another chance and come in droves to support the team? We shall see tonite. According to reports ticket sales have not been positive but this is also the case in other host countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. BorakBola believes that the trend in the region would be for last minute buying among the fans. One thing is for sure, the result tonight, or how Malaysia perform would determine the number of fans for later matches - as it was the case during the last Tiger Cup. Play well and lose and still the fans will come, but play badly and the numbers will dwindle.
China
The Chinese team, coached by Zhu Guanghu will have the services of several foreign-based players – notably Sun Jihai (Manchester City), Zheng Zhi (Carlton Athletic), Shao Jiayi (Energie Cottbus) and Dong Fangzhuo (Manchester United). Zhu will probably rue his decision not include top striker Li Jinyu in the Asian Cup squad as top midfielder and former Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers player, Qu Bo was forced to leave the pitch in the last training session with a foot injury. But they will also have the service of striker Han Peng who netted two goals in friendly against Uzbekistan earlier this year.
Many back home in China have criticised the team's approached as being too defensive and believed that poor showings in friendlies before this tournament means that China might not be able to sustain a strong challenge for the Cup. It is crucial that Malaysia retain the possesion of the ball and not resort to punting long balls over the top the way they played against Jamaica. Doing this would definitely spell doom for Malaysia. China have many tall players in the squad who are fast, posseses good technical skill as well speed but they would probably struggle to cope with the hot and humid conditions here (as shown by Australia in the Group A match against Oman). China has also shown to be poor travellers as they have struggled in their away matches so far - even losing to Thailand recently.
Players to watch: all those foreign-based dudes.
Malaysia
Coach Norizan Bakar is still keeping his cards close to his chest with the starting line-up. He is expected to start with his trusted 4 - 2 - 2 formation. However, there are some certainties about who would start the game tonite. It is mentioned in many articles that the defence have been the main concern for the coach with the Norizan testing out several combinations in the centre of defence during training. However, we at BorakBola believe that the major concern for the national team should be at the midfield as the combination of Norhafiz and Shukor has shown to be ineffective in the last 3 friendly matches. It seems that both players are unsure their exact roles are and are not playing to their true potential.
Norhafiz, who have been playing at centreback in the team prior to his 'relocation' to midfield, have not been played to his strong point, which is his defensive qualities and have not provided cover or protected the defence as we thought he should. There were on many occassions that he (and Shukor) was caught in no-man's land and the goals conceded by the team was due to balls that penetrated through the middle by the opposition or because the defence had no assistance or support from the midfields. We still believe that Norhafiz should play in the middle, perhaps slightly in front of the back four in the classic number #4 or Defensive Midfielder position ala Claude Makalele, roaming across the middle and preventing easy penetration and passes and relieve the load off the centre-backs, as he is also a good reader of the game and a decent stopper.
Shukor Adan simply have not impressed us during the friendlies as we are at odds to determine his exact duties. A centre mid? A box-to-box midfielder like Steven Gerrard? A creative midfielder? A cover? He was everything and nothing all at one and was frustrating to watch at times. Shukor fades in and out of matches - a bit like Jekyll and Hyde. He needs to be more hardworking and lead by example, as he is a strong player but has shown of late to have poor positioning skills. We hope he will do more and provide more than one or two good passes in the game. Either you contribute to the defence or to the offence. He's definitely able to muscle-in among the big Chinese boys as physically and technically he is quite good but we have yet to see this on a regular basis. Let's hope it is the good Shukor Adan that is turning out to play tonight (if he has recovered from his ankle injury sustained during training).
The experienced Rosdi Talib will surely start at leftback while Fauzie Nan is expected to be at rightback. We think Norizan is still unsure who will partner skipper Mohd Kaironissam Sahabuddin in central defence and we believe that K. Nanthakumar should start, being the tallest player in the team. Of late however Norizan has been trying out Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and even Mohd Aidil Zafuan to partner Kaironissam so there might some changes here tonight.
Azizon Kadir will definitely start at goal as he has been quite reliable in the matches so far. While Akmal hopefully is fit enough to partner Hairuddin upfront. BorakBola is hoping that Hardi will provide the creative spark sorely needed in attack and that he take cares of himself on field and show us some magic with his cultured left foot. Mohd Fadzli Saari is having a good run-up so far and should start on the right as Eddi Helmie is more deadly as a super-sub, hopefully running riot on the flanks when the Chinese are tired.
Players to watch: ALL of them. This is the first match to change everything that is wrong about football in Malaysia after all.
See you guys tonite!
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