KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya are looking for some prey to sharpen their claws for the AFF Cup in Dec 20-Jan 16.
And national coach Kim Pan Gon believes lower-ranked Cambodia and the Maldives will provide his men with the right warm-up.
Malaysia, ranked World No 146, will face world No 177 Cambodia on Dec 9 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil and World No 154 Maldives on Dec 14 at KLFA Stadium.
Pan Gon said: "We had played Thailand and the Philippines this year, and I believe Cambodia who are in Group A for the AFF Cup, are a good opponent before our campaign begins.
"The selection of opponents for the friendly matches is picked based on areas we have identified to improve in the squad after our centralised national camp," said the South Korean.
"As for the match against the Maldives, although they are not from Asean, they are two-time champions of the South Asian Football Federation Cup, winning in 2008 and 2018, as well as having similar playing patterns with other Asean teams.
"They had also won their last two friendly matches in September and beaten Laos, our opponent in the AFF Cup."
In the AFF Cup, Malaysia will begin their campaign against World No 158 Myanmar on Dec 21 before going up against Laos (187th) on Dec 24 at the National Stadium.
Malaysia will play against Vietnam (96th) on Dec 27 and are at home against Singapore (160th) on Jan 3.