Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia will target their first win of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024 when they host Timor-Leste on Wednesday at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The 2010 champions rescued a point in a 2-2 draw in their Group A opener away to Cambodia on Sunday thanks to Fergus Tierney’s 74th-minute equaliser in Phnom Penh.
It was still a disappointing outcome for last edition’s semi-finalists, but on the positive side Spanish head coach Pau Marti Vicente handed debuts to Jimmy Raymond and Pavithran Gunalan in that match.
Vicente will now be delighted to have his full squad with Kuala Lumpur City FC’s Declan Lambert and Selangor FC’s Harith Haiqal joining the national team after their club assignments.
Malaysia last played at Bukit Jalil National Stadium three months ago, when they defeated Lebanon 1-0 in the final of Pestabola Merdeka.
Timor-Leste, on the other hand, had a disastrous start to their campaign suffering their biggest defeat in ASEAN Championship history in their opening match, a 10-0 loss against Thailand.
Simon Elissetche’s side will be underdogs in this contest but the Chilean will be hoping that they can put up a better fight than they did last time out.
The Timorese will be without the services of their star player Paulo Gali following Indonesian Liga 1 side PSIS Semarang’s decision not to release him for the tournament.
Malaysia have won all seven meetings against Timor-Leste with the most recent match taking place in 2019 in the AFC Joint Qualifiers when the Harimau Malaya ran out 5-1 winners.
Their only previous game in the ASEAN Championship came 20 years ago in 2004 when Amri Yahyah’s brace guided the Malaysians to a commanding 5-0 victory.
Malaysia vs Timor-Leste
Venue: Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur
Kick-off: 11 December, 9:00 PM (Local Time)
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