PETALING JAYA – Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin today stressed the importance of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers as a crucial step in raising the national team’s level.
The six matches against Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan, and Oman are being viewed as a litmus test for Kim Pan-gon’s squad to ascend the ranks of Asian football.
Referring to the recent run of good results against higher-ranked opponents like Syria, China, and India, Hamidin expressed the need for success in the qualifiers to fulfil fans’ long-standing hopes for consistency.
“We’ve done well against Syria, China, India but unfortunately lost against Tajikistan.
“Starting with the game against Kyrgyzstan this Thursday, it will be the ‘test drive’ to see if we can qualify for the next round.
“If we cannot compete well against these three teams that means we have not reached the level to challenge the top 20 teams in Asia.
“We’ve seen steady improvement in the past two years and need to continue that. These qualifiers will be the turning point for us,” said Hamidin during a press conference, here today.
He added that many benefits will come for Harimau Malaya if they progress to the next round of qualifying.
“We don’t want to miss the chance to test ourselves against the best of the best in Asia.
“If we don’t qualify we will have to play friendlies against lower-ranked teams only,” he said.
While acknowledging the importance of the Asian Cup in January, Hamidin emphasised that the World Cup qualifiers offer more advantages for the national team.
“We will play three games at the Asian Cup and can pick up points for our world rankings.
“But we will create history if we make it to the final rounds of the World Cup qualifiers, not only that we will qualify automatically for the 2027 Asian Cup.
“We will also have the opportunity to play the best teams in Asia more regularly,” said Hamidin.
With that, Hamidin hopes the fans will continue to play their part as the ’12th player’ and will fill the seats at Bukit Jalil National Stadium to support the team, starting with the game against Kyrgyzstan on Thursday. – November 13, 2023