Looking serious: Dion Cools (front) warming up with teammates.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are the only team ranked outside the top 100 who are perched on top of their 2026 World Cup qualifying group but coach Kim Pan-gon is under no illusion of what is in store for them in Oman tonight (tomorrow 2am Malaysian time).
The Harimau Malaya take on world No. 80 Oman in a tough Group D encounter with Pan-gon’s side hoping to reach the third round of the competition for the first time at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.
Malaysia, ranked 132nd in the world, have recorded two wins over Oman, the last being at the Merdeka Tournament in 2000, and one draw out of six previous meetings.
Looking serious: Dion Cools (front) warming up with teammates.
In the most recent encounter, Oman whipped Malaysia 6-0 in a friendly in Seeb.
And they are starting fresh under new coach Jaroslav Silhavy, who formerly was in charge of the Czech Republic.
Silhavy replaced Croatian Branko Ivankovic, who was sacked last month after their disappointing Asian Cup campaign in Doha.
And this element of uncertainty, together with the lack of match preparation for the national team, are making Pan-gon a worried man.
“Oman players are in better physical condition as the Oman league is going on whereas our players just started their pre-season with their respective clubs,’’ he said.
“We studied a lot of the teams during the Asian Cup Finals in January and we were confident at that time.
“But Oman changed their coach after that and so we tried to get as much information as to what he had done in the Czech Republic... his tactical approach.
“We do know the characteristics of every individual player but we are blind as to what formations the coach will use.
“But I think our team are united and we are patient when it comes to tough matches.
“I hope we can show our strength again and get at least one point to bring back for the return match in Malaysia (on March 26).”
Malaysia picked up maximum points from their matches against Kyrgyzstan (4-3) and Taiwan (1-0) last year while Oman have three points from two games.
The national team have also been on the ascent since two years ago and had a positive outing at the Asian Cup in Doha where they held world No. 22 South Korea to a 3-3 draw.
“In the last two years, the Malaysian national team gave fantastic performances for the Malaysian public. At the last Asian Cup, we couldn’t reach our target but the match against South Korea, we showed to the people that Malaysia can compete against the world No. 22 team.
“All our players gained confidence, have bigger dreams to achieve, and we hope to get to the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Hopefully the experience (Asian Cup) can help us in the game tomorrow.”
