KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Malaysia will not be playing any friendly matches prior to the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers campaign in October in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general, Stuart Ramalingam said even though Harimau Malaya head coach Tan Cheng Hoe has lined up several friendly matches, the national body had to consider various aspects including the travel restrictions imposed by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“We plan to have several warm-up matches, but nothing can be confirmed now due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Many countries have issued travel restrictions which makes it tough for us to hold any friendly match.
“Every country has different rules and is indifferent stages on how to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we would certainly like to hold a warm-up match for the national squad once the situation improves,” he told Bernama, recently.
Based on the revised schedule issued by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently, Malaysia will play against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai on October 8, Vietnam at National Stadium, Bukit Jalil on October 13, before completing the fixtures against Thailand in Bangkok on November 17.
Prior to this, AFC and the International Football Federation (FIFA) have decided to postpone the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup tournament during the international windows from March 23 to 31 and June 1 to 9 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
— Bernama
