By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Jan 20 — Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari has called on Malaysians to support the Harimau Malaya squad as they face Bahrain in the Group E second match of the 2023 Asian Cup tonight.
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, he expressed confidence in the team, led by Kim Pan Gon, of defeating the squad, currently ranked 86th in the world.
“InsyaAllah, tonight we will create a victory against Bahrain in the 2023 Asian Cup. Let us all express our support for Harimau Malaya,” Amirudin said.
The national squad, currently ranked 130th in the world, is scheduled to meet Bahrain at 10:30pm Malaysian time at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Malaysia and Bahrain began their Group E campaign with Bahrain suffering a 1-3 defeat to two-time champions South Korea, while the national squad lost 0-4 to Jordan.
For the record, Bahrain has won in the last three meetings against Malaysia, with the last encounter taking place during the qualification matches for the 2023 Asian Cup in Kuala Lumpur in June 2022.
Tonight’s match is the first meeting between the two teams on the Asian Cup stage.
