Come one, come all. This is your chance to see the Malaysian National Football Team play in its final friendly before the Asian Cup. Tonight, Malaysia will host Jamaica at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil. Kick-off is at 8.45pm. Tickets are priced at RM 5 for all seats.
For everyone's info, prior to this game, the Pasukan Kebangsaan have been playing their matches at Stadium MBPJ and the Shah Alam Stadium. The National Stadium in Bukit Jalil have been closed to protect the ever fragile turf in preparation for the Asian Cup Tournament. For this game, the management of the stadium have agreed to have the friendly there which is a positive step because it means the host will be able to adjust and adapt to the conditions of the field before the tournament begins proper.
Our opponent tonight is Jamaica, otherwise known as the Reggae Boyz. The team is struggling since the 1998 World Cup and is going through a rebuilding phase under experienced coach Bora Milutinovic. They haven't had a good tour of South-East Asia so far - losing 1-2 to Indonesia and 0 -3 to Vietnam despite being ranked higher in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking than the two hosts. This is a relatively young side, (the average age of the squad is 21) and none of their British based players are in the touring party.
This a chance to see how well Malaysia can play against another higher ranking team and judging from the visitor's performance in against their previous opponents, a win is possible for Malaysia.
Probable Malaysian Team Line-up
Akmal is definitely out of the team and there's no update that we can find out about Hardi's recovery from his injury (the main reason why he missed out the last friendly against UAE apparently). According to some reports, Hardi might even start on the left of the midfield.
It is very likely that Azizon Kadir will start in goal protected by the captain, Khaironnisam Sahabuddin Hussain and a choice of Aidil Zafuan Razak or Nazrulerwan Makmor partnering him in the middle. Completing the defence will be Fauzie Nan and Rosdi Talib.
If Norizan goes with a 4-2-3-1 formation, the same midfield than ran the engine room the last time out will return, the combination of Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and Shukor Adan in the middle while Hardi and Eddie Helmy will work on the wings.
What would be interesting is to see who will support Hairuddin Omar upfront. Both the Malay Mail and Utusan Malaysia are reporting that a surprise starter would be last season FAM Young Player of the Year, Nor Farhan Muhammad.
The 23 year old player from Terengganu came on as a substitute in the last two matches for Malaysia and was seen by observers playing in the same side as other first choice players during the training session in Shah Alam.
See you guys tonight!
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