With the likelihood of Fifa cancelling the March international window increasing by the day due to the Covid-19 outbreak, national coach Tan Cheng Hoe admits this is a major setback to Malaysia’s pre-World Cup campaign.
As more and more countries, including Malaysia, declare travel bans, Harimau Malaya will find it harder to have good preparation due to scarcity of international friendlies.
On top of it all, Malaysia may not even get to play their World Cup qualifiers this month — against United Arab Emirates on March 26 and Vietnam on March 31.
There is already talk in the international football fraternity that matches in the Fifa March and June windows could be moved to October.
Cheng Hoe is worried that this might affect the strong momentum of the national team as they had ended 2019 on a high, jumping from World No 158 to 154.
Malaysia have moved up the world rankings after winning three out of three matches — beating Tajikistan 1-0 (international friendly), Thailand 2-1 (pre-World Cup) and Indonesia 2-0 (pre-World Cup).
Malaysia are now lying a creditable second in Group G of the pre-World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers.
On Thursday, Fifa issued a media statement, saying that a formal proposal to postpone the upcoming international matches will be discussed with member associations.
This means that many of the matches in the March window face the possibility of being called off.
Cheng Hoe said while the well-being of the national players comes above everything else, he is also concerned about the team’s momentum being disrupted.
“As a coach, I feel this (March) window is a good opportunity to get all the players together and maintain the team’s momentum.
“However, in view of the situation, the health and safety of the team are far more important.”
“As for now, it all really depends on the official decision by Fifa.
“At the same time, we will also await directives from the Health Ministry in regard to matches.”
Cheng Hoe said his concern is not so much about Malaysia not getting to play international friendlies but the need to assemble the players for centralised training.
The coach suggested FAM can still have a short training camp for the national team and look for friendly matches with the national teams of countries not on the travel ban list.
However, Cheng Hoe admitted this is a tough ask. “So many countries have Malaysia on their travel ban list and it’s vice versa. They don’t allow their citizens to travel.”
The 51-year-old Cheng Hoe dismissed the possibility of the national team playing friendlies against top local clubs as they will be preparing for the M-League.