In the first leg Pakistan lost 2-0 to Malaysia. -AFP Photo
KARACHI: Malaysia has won the last four encounters between the two nations, but Pakistan football team coach Tariq Lutfi wants to break the winning streak of Malaysia in the upcoming clash between the two sides on 9th March at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium.Pakistan host the second leg of the Pakistan-Malaysia Olympic qualifier on Wednesday.It will be the eighth meeting between the two sides and second-ever meeting between the two countries at Olympic level. Both the nations faced each other six times at national level with matches recorded as FIFA-recognized internationals. The first leg, which Malaysia won 2-0, was played at Kuala Lumpur’s Shah Alam Stadium on 23rd February 2011.Pakistan have managed to score only four goals against Malaysia in six meetings, three of them coming in a 3- 2 win during the 14th Kings Cup on 13 November 1981 when Muhammad Ali Shah completed a hat-trick for Pakistan.
From then on, Pakistan scored only once against the South East Asians losing twice in the Asian Cup Qualifiers – 5-0 in Kolkata in 1984 and 4-0 in Kuala Lumpur in 1988, and 4-1 in a 2008 friendly match also at Kaula Lumpur. However, the local coach is not only looking for the Malaysian scalp in the match but he is looking for a convincing win which would help his side advance to the next stage of the Olympic qualifiers.Pakistan require to win by a minimum margin of three goals against the visiting Malaysian U-21 for a berth in second round of the 2012 Olympic football Asian qualifying tournament.“My team does not think that they are underdogs and they would try their level best to pull a victory, which could help us claim berth in the second round of the Olympic qualifiers.The home-ground advantage could help us beat the Malaysian team,” Tariq Lutfi told PPI. We need a three-goal difference win over Malaysia to advance into the second round.“The two-goal difference in our favour would put us equal and therefore we would have to play penalty shoots. However, we would try to pull a three-goal difference triumph, in order to progress to the second round of the tournament,” added Tariq.
However, the coach admitted that the Malaysian U-21 is a tough side and winning against it would not be easy for his team.“Certainly they (Malaysia) are the top team of the region. But I don’t underestimate my team and I think we have the potential to stun the Malaysians when it is our and hopefully 9th March would be our day,” he said.“It would be a do-or-die encounter for us and I have asked my players to go all-out to win the match with a big margin so that they could advance to the next stage, which would be a big achievement for us. So certainly we would follow an aggressive strategy in the match to achieve that feat,” he added.
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