YANGON – The Harimau Malaya have been challenged to put on their best performance for the 2022 Football Federation Cup campaign and end Malaysia’s 12-year wait to win its second title of Southeast Asia’s highest-level tournament.
The challenge was made by Football Association of Malaysia president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin to all 23 national players in a meeting at the team’s hotel in Yangon, Myanmar, last night ahead of their Group B opener against the home team today.
At the meeting, Hamidin also gave words of encouragement to motivate the Kim Pan-gon’s squad, which is mostly made up of new faces.
Yesterday, Hamidin had also observed the national team’s official training session in the afternoon at the Thuwunna Stadium here, which is the venue for the clash between Myanmar and Malaysia.
After Myanmar, Malaysia will face Laos at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur this Saturday, followed by Vietnam in Hanoi (December 27) and Singapore (January 3) in Bukit Jalil to hunt for the top two slots in Group B to qualify for the semi-finals.
Throughout the biennial tournament’s 13 editions, Malaysia emerged as champions once in 2010 and runners-up three times – in the inaugural edition in 1996, 2014 and 2018.
The four teams that have won the title are Thailand (six times), Singapore (four), Vietnam (two) and Malaysia (one). – Bernama, December 21, 2022
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