In preparation for the preliminaries coming in November and next year's Asian Cup, the national soccer team invited two Asian teams to play warm-up matches on international match days in September. The two teams are Malaysia and Syria. According to the schedule, the national football team will play Malaysia and Syria on the 9th and 12th. Malaysia and Syria were the first to play warm-up matches before playing against the national football team!
In a match that was characterized by tenacity and fighting spirit, Malaysia fell behind 0-2, chased down two consecutive goals and eventually beat Syria 2-2.
I believe that fans are still familiar with the strength of Malaysia. We have never seen them in the history of the national soccer team. Because their soccer level belongs to a proper fishbowl team. However, I believe fans will suffer because of the strength of the Syrian team.
This West Asian powerhouse has given the national soccer team a huge test many times during the preliminaries. Among them, the national football team during Lippi's coaching period suffered a draw from Syria in a crucial match to qualify for the preliminaries, and ultimately lost the key opportunity to enter the World Cup.
It's safe to say that Syria has been playing the role of the national soccer representative team in the last two World Qualifiers. Now, they were held to a 2-2 draw by Malaysia after leading by two goals. I wonder if Malaysia has improved or Syria has regressed?
The answer to this question may come when the national soccer team plays the warm-up match in Malaysia.
But one thing is certain now, this warm-up match between the national soccer team and Malaysia is going to be a tough one for the national soccer team to win.
On the other hand, Malaysian soccer has made a lot of progress in recent years, especially their youth training and national junior players. Facing Thailand and Vietnam, they do not have an advantage at all. On the other hand, national soccer players coached by Jankovic are generally older. For example, Stanley Wang, Zhang Linmiao, Yan Junling, Ekson and Wu Xi are already over 32 years old. It would be very difficult for a national team to always expect veterans to come and play.
Somewhat to the relief of the fans, a statement from naturalized player Eckerson on the eve of the warm-up match against Malaysia showed us something different. Ickerson said:- "Whether it's Malaysia or Syria, we'll give it our all and treat the warm-up matches like preliminaries!"
This means that the national football team will go all out to beat their opponents in the next two warm-up matches, trying to get the players' fighting spirit and cohesion into top form before they head into the November qualifiers!
