Malaysian coach ready for Singapore battle

National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal is game for challenges and his next one is going to be a tough one – taming the Lions in their own den.

The former international has resurrected the game to a new level and injected life back into Malaysian football after significant achievements at the 2009 Laos SEA Games and the Suzuki Cup Asean Football Federation AFF Championships lastyear.

“It’s good we have been making steady progress. It’s a good sign for Malaysian football. Now, we have another challenge ahead of us in the Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers against our neighbours Singapore. It has been a long time since we got a result against them.

“And people back home want to see how far we can go ... and it’s a challenge for me,” said Rajagopal, who has set a realistic target of seeing Malaysia qualify on merit for the Asian Cup in 2015.

“We are not talking about the World Cup. We have a young team and I’m working on this young set of players for the future. Some of the boys are teenagers and in their early 20s.

“They are still in the learning process,” said Rajagopal.

However, fans being fans, they expect Malaysia to continue to move forward irrespective of the tough challenge of playing a Singapore side comprising five naturalised players.

Singapore, under coach Radojko Avramovic, will be boosted by the presence of the five in veteran striker Aleksandar Duric, Qiu Li, defender Daniel Bennett, midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin and Shi Jiayi.

Singapore have been seeded and given a bye in the first round while Malaysia opened their campaign against Taiwan and squeezed into the second round by the skin of their teeth on the away-goals rule after the ties ended 4-4 on aggregate.

The fierce rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore goes back a long way even during Rajagopal’s playing days with Selangor and the national team in the early 70s.

“The naturalised players have strengthened the Singapore team who are made up of mostly seasoned hands. Yes, we have a game on our hands and a big test for my boys. Let’s see what happens,” said Rajagopal, who has a game plan to counter the Lions.

Singapore coach Avramovic said there is “a lot of attention” on this game. “It is a normal game just like when we played Tajikistan at the last World Cup qualifiers in 2007. But the attention when it involves Malaysia is greater for obvious reasons,” said Avramovic.