KUALA LUMPUR – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will only invite teams for future tournaments after thoroughly analysing their current political situations.
This decision comes after the Palestinian football team decided to withdraw from the upcoming Merdeka Tournament, at the last minute, due to the country’s rapidly escalating conflict with Israel.
Merdeka Tournament organising committee chairman Firdaus Mohamed said the issues in Palestine are beyond the control of FAM and that they will learn from the situation before making any future decisions.
“Our main goal for inviting Palestine to the Merdeka Tournament was because of their current FIFA ranking, as they are ranked higher than Malaysia.
“We invited them so that our Harimau Malaya players could gain experience playing against teams ranked within the world’s top 100 countries, which is what coach Kim Pan-gon wanted as preparation for next year’s AFC Asian Cup.
“However, we have had withdrawals due to unforeseen situations. We have never experienced something like this before, and we will take this as a lesson.
“We will be more cautious when selecting teams for future tournaments,” said Firdaus.
Meanwhile, FAM’s secretary-general, Noor Azman Rahman, expressed hope that Harimau Malaya would qualify for the final.
“If we beat India, we will have the opportunity to play a second game against Tajikistan. We have to do our best, and we hope the team can play two matches,” Azman said.
Harimau Malaya will kick off the tournament on October 13 against India, ranked 102nd in the world.
The two teams last met in a friendly clash in Kolkata in 2011, with India winning the match 3-2.
The winner of the match between Harimau Malaya and the Blue Tigers will face Tajikistan, ranked 110th in the world, in the final at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on October 17. – October 10, 2023