KUALA LUMPUR: Three hours before the 9pm kickoff tonight, only 15,385 tickets were sold for the 80,000 capacity National Stadium at Bukit Jalil.
That doesn't augur well for the FA of Malaysia which wants a lot of fans to turn up and support the national team in their World Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan.
Even though it's a World Cup qualifier, it failed to draw the fans for Harimau Malaya's biggest home match in recent years.
But many supporters probably stayed away because of what they perceived to be steep ticket prices.
It was not so much the wet weather that dampened their enthusiasm.
Indeed,
there was criticism over the ticket prices - RM40 (adults) and RM5 (children between the ages of 6 and 12 ) for the open seats and RM60 for the grandstand category and RM80 for the premium category.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh had reportedly asked FAM to consider lowering the ticket prices to enable them to watch the match.
The National Stadium usually opens its gates around 5pm, and there will be the usual long lines of fans, but not for this crucial match. Fans were only trickling around 7pm.
A fan, Khairul Nizam Ariffin said Malaysia lacks sporting culture, and fans pick and choose their matches.
