The India-Malaysia football rivalry goes a long way back. Since their first meeting in a 1957 friendly in Kuala Lumpur, where India emerged 3-0 winners thanks to PK Banerjee’s brace and a Tulsidas Balaram strike, until last year’s Merdeka Tournament clash in which Malaysia ran out 4-2 winners, the two sides have faced each other 32 times. That’s the most number of times India have played against any opponent in international football, followed by Pakistan (29 matches) and Bangladesh (28 matches).
The November 18th game at the GMC Balayogi Gachibowli Stadium will be yet another addition to this historic rivalry, where even friendly games have been played with utmost competitiveness. There’s literally nothing to separate India and Malaysia in terms of head-to-head results. The Blue Tigers and the Harimau Malaya have won 12 matches each, while eight have ended in draws. There’s little difference in the current FIFA Rankings as well, with India placed 125th and Malaysia 133rd. Malaysia are coming into this match on the back of a 3-1 friendly win over Laos on Thursday, November 14.
When the FIFA friendly was confirmed in September, it was seen as a potential play-off to secure the sixth and final berth in Pot 1 of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers Final Round draw, which will be held on December 9. However, October’s results like India’s 1-1 draw with Vietnam and Malaysia’s 0-4 loss to New Zealand have ensured that the Southeast Asians mathematically cannot overtake the Blue Tigers in the rankings, irrespective of what transpires on November 18. But the principal essence of the match remains as the last preparatory friendly before the all-important Asian Cup Qualifiers in March 2025.
Both teams know each other fairly well, having played just 13 months ago in a high-octane Merdeka Tournament semi-final at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in the Malaysian capital. India have nine players from that game in the current squad – Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, Mehtab Singh, Vishal Kaith, Naorem Roshan Singh, Amrinder Singh, Liston Colaco, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Suresh Singh Wangjam.
On the other hand, 14 of Malaysia’s 26 members were in the squad last year. That includes two of the goalscorers – Arif Aiman, a young winger from Johor Darul Ta’zim FC and defender Dion Cools. Cools is the one of their two players playing their trade outside Malaysia (at Buriram United in the Thai League 1). The other is forward Fergus Tierney, who plays for Chonburi FC in the Thai League 2.
The bulk of the Malaysian squad hail from three clubs – Johor Darul Ta’zim FC and Terengganu FC (five players each) and Kuala Lumpur City FC (four players). A fair share of Malaysian players are foreign born or naturalised citizens like Paulo Josué, Sergio Ezequiel Agüero, Daniel Ting, Dominic Tan, Matthew Davies, Nooa Laine, etc.
Like India, Malaysia have also undergone changes in the coaching staff since last year. Manolo Márquez and his counterpart Pau Martí both hail from Spain, and know each other from their time in Barcelona.
“Pau Martí is from my city. He’s also Catalan. He was working in the Barcelona B team as the assistant coach. He has got experience abroad in Hong Kong, and was the assistant coach of Malaysia under the South Korean coach (Kim Pan-gon). They have been playing good football and it will be a tough game for both sides,” said Márquez.
Like Márquez, Martí also took charge in July after Malaysia failed to qualify for Round 3 of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, finishing in third place in their group behind Oman and Kyrgyzstan. One of Martí’s assistants, Juan Torres Garrido was the head coach of the Malaysia U23 side which played two friendlies against India U23 in March this year.
The Malaysian senior side made a good start under Martí as they won the Merdeka Tournament in September, beating Philippines 2-1 and Lebanon 1-0. However, the 0-4 away loss to New Zealand last month dashed their hopes of overtaking India for a Pot 1 berth. The Harimau Malaya began their training camp on November 10 in Kuala Lumpur before travelling to Bangkok to face Laos in a friendly. They picked up a 3-1 win as Harith Haiqal headed in an early opener in the sixth minute. But Laos equalised in the 34th minute to take it to 1-1 at the break. Malaysia bounced back in the second half and scored twice from the penalty spot (Stuart Wilkin and Sergio Ezequiel Agüero) to seal the 3-1 win.
Malaysia will arrive in Hyderabad on Saturday, November 16 and hold the official training session at the GMC Balayogi Gachibowli Stadium on November 17. India will train at the Hyderabad FC Training Ground on all days before the matchday.
The tickets to the match can be purchased on ticketgenie.in.
(Inputs from AIFF)
Edited by Pratyusha Mukherjee
