November 1, 2004

Newly-appointed Malaysian national coach Bertalan Bicskei has brought a 23 man-squad to Singapore for the Tiger Beer Challenge Cup as he prepare for the December Tiger Cup.

The reason for this is it could well be the final match for them before naming their preliminary 30-man squad as FAM had cancelled a training camp to the Middle-East.

But already Bicskei is facing an uphill task as he is set to miss the services of Malaysia star striker Akmal Rizal probably the most talented player Malaysia have produced in recent years as the striker had been struck down by an ankle injury and is already ruled out of the Tiger Cup.

Not helping is the shocking dip in form of his team. After a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Thailand in a friendly match in August, Malaysia were beaten 1-0 by China, before going down to a shock 2-0 loss by Hong Kong in a pre-World Cup qualifier. They are now rooted at the bottom of their World Cup qualifying Group 5, after 5 straight defeats.

The 60-year-old, who is a former Hungary national coach said the results are no good. He is trying to find out why & how to deal with it. This Malaysian team is very strong but the Football Association of Malaysia must give him more time.

On missing out on the services of striker Akmal Rizal, Bicskei said Akmal is a very good striker, one of the best in Asia. It is a pity that he would not be available for the national team. He would have been a great help in the Tiger Cup but they just have to get on with it.

It will be Bicskei's first Singapore-Malaysia derby, & he feel Singapore are a very strong team & in his opinion, there is not much difference between the two sides. It will be a tough match

For National coach Radajko Avramovic it is like any other game we enter, preparing well & doing our best. The experimenting phase is over but the starting eleven is not yet fixed.