November 17, 2009 19:28 PM

Malaysia To Face Uzbekistan Without Key Players

PETALING JAYA, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's hopes of making it to the 2011 Asia Cup suffered a major setback, when three pillars of strength in the team were ruled out for the Group C qualifying match against Uzbekistan, at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil Wednesday.

Chief striker Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak has been ruled out due to a one match suspension after receiving two yellow cards, incidentally, the second against the Uzbeks is the first leg at JAR Stadium JAR in Tashkent, last Saturday.

He received the first on Jan 21 during the team's 0-5 loss to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras.

Apart from Mohd Zaquan, his brother Mohd Aidil Zafuan has been ruled out due to injury while defender Mohd Nasriq Baharom was given the marching orders in the match against the Uzbeks.

National head coach K. Rajagobal who knows what to expect from his opponents, especially after their 1-3 loss in Tashkent, said the young Malaysian side pales in comparison against a vastly experienced Uzbekistan side.

"The boys are very positive and we will try to give our best shot at the Uzbeks. We will play the match according to our game plan and weather conditions here," Rajagobal told reporters at Wisma FAM here Tuesday.

The Malaysian side played in Tashkent under extremely cold weather conditions with temperature hovering around 7 degree Celsius.

Malaysia who have lost their two matches in Group C, need to win their return matches against Uzbekistan Wednesday and UAE (Jan 6, 2010), to keep their hopes alive.

Uzbekistan lead Group C with six points while UAE are second with three points and the top two teams qualify for the next stage of the Asia Cup to be hosted by Qatar in 2011.

Probable line up:

Malaysia: Mohd Farizal Marlias, Mohamad Muslim Ahmad, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Mohd Sabre Mat Abu, Mohamad Azmi Muslim, Amar Rohidan, Mohd Amri Yahyah, Safiq Rahim, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Razali Umar Kandasamy, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha.

Uzbekistan: Anvar Gafurov, Aziz Ibragimov, Azizbek Haydarov, Server Djeparov, Odil Ahmedov, Ignatif Nesterov, Jasur Hasanov, Vitaliy Denisov, Anvarjon Soliev, Murod Khalmukhamedov, Komoliddin Tadjiev.

-- BERNAMA

We provide (subscription-based) 
news coverage in our Newswire service.