KUALA LUMPUR: National coach Kim Pan Gon will have his hands full as he works to whip Harimau Malaya into shape for the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifiers later this month.
World No. 32 Malaysia will face No. 18 Oman on March 21 in Muscat and March 26 in Bukit Jalil.
With the M-League set to start only in May, Pan Gon may face a problem with fitness, especially during Ramadan, when his trainees report for centralised training on Friday (March 8).
The situation will likely give Pan Gon a headache before the Oman match.
According to football analyst Zakaria Rahim, Oman are likely to have an advantage as their players are getting regular matches in their domestic league.
Zakaria added that Oman are the favourites to top Group D.
"The players may not be in optimal shape when they report for centralised training. Perhaps raising players' fitness will be the focus in the first few days of training.
"Pan Gon cannot immediately focus on strategy and technical aspects since the players lack match fitness, which is a concern.
"The players must be serious during training.
Expectations must not be too high. For instance, some people expected the team to beat Bahrain and Jordan in the recent Asian Cup, but they did not perform well.
"The team should concentrate on delivering a solid performance, especially in the match in Muscat against Oman."
Harimau Malaysia are at the top of Group D with six points following wins over Kyrgyzstan (4-3) and Taiwan (1-0).
Zakaria said Malaysia should ideally play test matches before the qualifiers.
"However, scheduling friendlies before the qualifiers is challenging due to the Fifa calendar, which runs from March 18-26.
