KUALA LUMPUR: Hello, hello. Do you want to play an international friendly against Malaysia?
No affirmative response.
That seems to be the case in the national football team's preparations for their World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan.
FA of Malaysia secretary general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman said they approached four to five countries to play international friendlies with Harimau Malaya, but there was "no reply."
That is dismaying as even Indonesia have an international friendly lined up against Tanzania this Sunday in Jakarta.
"We approached Brunei and Vietnam for friendly matches but no response," said Azman.
He said the national team will instead play friendlies with local clubs in preparation for the matches against Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek on June 6 and Taiwan in Bukit Jalil on June 11.
Worryingly, the lack of match play `(due to the M-League's delayed kickoff, from February to May) has affected the national players.
Consequently, Malaysia suffered back-to-back losses (with identical 2-0 scoreline) home and away to world No. 77 Oman in the World Cup qualifiers in March.
World No.138 Malaysia, who stunned world No. 100 Kyrgyzstan 4-3 at home last November, must now pull off another upset against the Central Asian team in Bishkek to revive their World Cup dream.
Malaysia should have no problem beating Taiwan in their last group match.
Malaysia are now third in Group D with six points while Kyrgyzstan lead with nine. Oman are second with nine, and Taiwan are last without a point.
