AS Malaysia avoided giants Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Australia, national coach Tan Cheng Hoe admitted that he was surprised with the draw for the 2022 World Cup/Asian Cup.
Cheng Hoe’s men were braced for tough company with Asia’s big guns but Malaysia found themselves in Group G with Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and
United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the draw at AFC House in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Having a hand in giving Malaysia the “Asean” draw was former Australian international Tim Cahill who performed the Group G draw.
Harimau Malaya, ranked World No 159, must be relieved as after all, Vietnam (No 96), Thailand (No 116), and Indonesia (No 160) are familiar faces.
Even though it is not a case of “familiarity breeds contempt”, the Malaysian team must be feeling that they have a good draw.
In comparison, it’s a much more intimidating group for Singapore who have to face Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Palestine and Yemen.
So, for Malaysia, this sounds very much like Asean territory but they must beat world No 67 UAE to top the group or at least finish second.
The winners of the eight groups and the four second best teams will advance to the final round of the World Cup qualifiers. From the final round, four Asian countries will qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar while the fifth placed team will play off with a team from another continent for the last ticket.
The qualifying matches will start on Sept 5 until June 9 next year, falling in between the 2018 AFF Cup and 2020 AFF Cup.
Cheng Hoe said: “I don’t think anyone expected Malaysia to be in a group of Asean countries. It is like a small tournament for Asean nations before the AFF Cup for next year.”
“We know this is the biggest stage in football, the World Cup qualifiers. I want the team to take this opportunity as a good exposure for them and at the same time, we want to get a good result.
“Every tournament and competition will be different. Of course we are familiar with the Asean countries with UAE being the toughest and favourites to reach the second stage.”
Having guided Harimau Malaya to the final of the AFF Cup last year (losing to Vietnam in the final), Cheng Hoe and his coaching staff will have less “spying work” to do due to the many familiar rivals in their group.
The familiarity is not limited to the players in the opposing teams but also with the environment, climate, time zone.
Malaysia will kick off their campaign away to Indonesia before hosting UAE on Sept 10.
“Playing against Asean countries, you know the rivalry and it’s like a derby. The fans love to watch these matches and at the same time we know we don’t have to travel far away, there’s no time difference and no adjustment needed.
“I will sit down with the coaching staff and management to see what will be the best preparations and friendly games to play. Some teams may stop over in this region for their matches, and maybe we can arrange for games with them,” added Cheng Hoe.