Malaysia's FIFA Ranking Is 164, One Lower Than Bhutan

14 April, 2015



KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s FIFA ranking has dropped to 164 - their worst ever placing this year – which is one rung below the backwater Himalayan nation of Bhutan.

Regardless of the expected brickbats, Malaysia will have to put it aside and concentrate on the 2018 World Cup Asia qualifiers which was revealed on Tuesday. Malaysia have been drawn in Group A with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Timor-Leste in the second round, which will be held from June 11 to March 29, 2016.

And national coach Dollah Salleh is hoping to have more time to prepare the team for the challenge ahead.

Malaysia will start their campaign with two home matches – against Timor-Leste (on June 11) and Palestine (June 16) and Dollah wants the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to ensure the team get a longer centralised training period.

This, he said, would give his team a better chance of collecting full points from the two home games.

“We’re in a tough group but I’m glad that we did not get heavyweights like Australia, South Korea, Japan and Iran,” said Dollah after the draw here on Tuesday.

“The UAE and Saudi Arabia are our toughest opponents in the group but we have a chance of beating them at home ... Palestine and Timor-Leste are of the same standard as us.

“The other teams have been preparing for years but I only get a week with the team for matches. It’s not fair if I only get a week to train the players before competing at this level ... so, I hope to get players for a longer period.”

Dollah could just have his wish fulfilled as FAM secretary general Hamidin Mohd Amin said they may reschedule the M-League matches to accommodate the national team’s preparations.

“We want to reschedule matches so that Dollah will have at least 10 days to prepare for each match,” he said, adding that the team could be sent to Japan for a training stint.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin feels that the national team’s lowly FIFA ranking could be due to FAM’s decision to arrange matches against more competitive teams.

He said that it was good that FAM wanted the players to gain more experience by playing against higher-ranked teams but added that it should not be at the expense of the team’s world ranking.

“FAM and the coach have said that they purposely picked matches against tougher opponents so that the players will gain more experience. If it’s done on purpose, then I think we should not panic as there is a plan,” he said.

“It’s up to FAM to decide on the matches they play as they have their own strategy. But when it comes to games that matters - like the SEA Games, AFF Cup and AFC Cup qualification – then the team need to show improvement.

“The ranking system is also not logical as it shows our team to be lower than many countries in South-East Asia. If we look at our performances in the AFF Cup and SEA Games, we have consistently made it to the semi-finals ... so you can’t say we are the worst team in South-East Asia,” said Khairy.

Malaysia’s 6-0 loss to Oman in an international friendly on March 26 has seen the country drop 11 places to its current position.

Sumber - K. Rajan and Joseph Kaos Junior, Star Online www.thestar.com.my