Football: Harimau Malaya aim to go beyond second round of qualifiers

KUALA LUMPUR: After ending a more than four-decade wait to qualify on merit for the Asian Cup, the national football team will now shift their attention to trying to seal one of the 18 spots available in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Based on the progress shown under the guidance of head coach Kim Pan-gon, which has seen Malaysia now ranked among the top 24 teams in Asia, there is no doubt that this Harimau Malaya squad can create history by going beyond the second round of the World Cup qualifiers this time.

That is the mission that awaits Harimau Malaya when the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers starts tomorrow.

Drawn in Group D for the second round of the 2026 World Cup-2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, world No. 137 Malaysia face a daunting task and even the slightest mistake could prove costly.

This is because Pan-gon’s men will be up against two higher-ranked teams in the qualifiers, namely world No. 72 Oman and world No. 97 Kyrgyzstan, as well as world No. 152 Taiwan in their bid to finish in the top two in the group to confirm their spot in the third qualifying round.

Malaysia, though, look to be on the right track to do just that this time, having racked up seven wins, including over three higher-ranked teams, so far, this year.

One of the victories was over India (world No. 102) while they also had two draws – against Syria (No. 94) and China (No. 80) – besides suffering just two defeats.

The Harimau Malaya entertain Kyrgyzstan at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow before travelling to Taipei to face Taiwan on Nov 21.

On paper, Malaysia can expect a tough time against Kyrgyzstan as the White Falcons edged Harimau Malaya 1-0 in their sole friendly match in Melaka in 2018.

Pan-gon looks likely to continue with the same game plan after retaining 20 players who featured in the 2023 Merdeka Tournament last month, which saw Malaysia emerge as runners-up after losing 2-0 to Tajikistan.

Among the players retained are skipper Dion Cools, Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi, Safawi Rasid, Akhyar Rashid, Faisal Halim, Brendan Gan, Dominic Tan, Darren Lok, Paulo Josue and Junior Eldstal.

It must also be noted that coach Stefan Tarkovic’s Kyrgyzstan, who clearly have the advantage physically, may not be at their best mentally after suffering two straight defeats – losing 2-0 to Bahrain and 1-0 to the Philippines – in international friendlies last month.

But they have stepped up their preparation ahead of the qualifiers, with part of the team having “camped” here since last Thursday (Nov 9) and began full training two days later after the rest of the players from Abdish-Ata Kant, the club at the top of the Kyrgyzstan League, checked in.

Based on the list of players called up for Kyrgyzstan’s training camp, Tarkovic has named 11 players from Abdish-Ata Kant as well as players based overseas like in Germany, Russia and Turkiye. — BK