PETALING JAYA: The Harimau Malaya squad will likely be taking a cautious approach against Oman during their upcoming 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup qualifiers second round fixtures.
Harimau Malaya’s midfielder Brendan Gan said that the team was fully aware that world number 80 Oman, now coached by Jaroslav Silhavy, the former coach of former the Czech Republic, could be a mysterious team boasting new tactics and gameplay.
“He will bring new tactics and disrupt whatever system they had previously, that will be the hardest part for us to figure out how they’re going to play. However, we are going to counteract whatever they are going to do, so at the moment (we are) concentrating on what we can do and what we can do better.
“We also need to look back on the Asian Cup, and rectify the mistakes we have made. It is going to be a long, hard camp this time.
“However, I think all the boys are ready to show what we can show because we are sitting in such a good position and we don’t want to waste where we’re sitting right now,” he told reporters during the training session at the Wisma FAM here, today.
Brandon added that world 132nd Malaysia needed to be assiduous to counter Oman’s new tactical approach in the first match at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat on March 21 and the second at Bukit Jalil National Stadium five days later.
Silhavy, 62, who coached Czech Republic from 2018-2023 and guided Slavia Prague for the top plight league title in 2016-2017 season, replaced Croatian Branko Ivankovic, who was sacked by the Oman Football Association (OFA) for the team’s poor showing at the 2023 Asian Cup.
Meanwhile, Brendan, who left Selangor FC last month, said he is trying to be in his best shape in terms of fitness by exercising daily, though he is still club-less.
“For me, off season in general, don’t be sitting around, doing nothing and watching TV. I will still be trying to keep fit, do exercise everyday, while some of the boys also had started to train with their teams.
“I think it is just the fact of game time, we will need match fitness and intensity, we going to get here. The coaching team does know that and have been so amazing before this to make our bodies ready to take on teams of this high quality,” he said, adding that he had yet to make a decision on his new team.
Malaysia are on track to qualify for the third round of the World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers for the first time, leading Group D with three-point advantage over Oman after beating Kyrgyzstan 4-3 and Taiwan 1-0 last year. Oman and Kyrgyzstan both have 3 points each while Taiwan remain bottom of the group without a single point.
The Harimau Malaya squad will warm up for their qualifiers by taking on world 175th Nepal in a closed-door International Tier 1 friendly match at Wisma FAM on March 15. – Bernama
