Afghanistan to play against Malaysia

KABUL (SW): Afghanistan would take on Malaysia in a maiden international football encounter between the two teams on Tuesday.

According to the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF), the match would be played in Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon at 17:15 Afghanistan time. The federation has vowed that the national team is all set to take on Malaysia. The Afghan squad has been busy in the training camp in Kuala Lumpur for the past one week. The national team that would take on Malaysia has five players selected from within the country while the rest are Non-Resident Afghans (NRAs).

Prior to this international match, Afghanistan has lost to Lebanon 0-2 in its last match. Against Malaysia however, Afghanistan has a psychological advantage due to an edge in the FIFA ranking. Afghanistan is currently ranked at 149 while Malaysia is 9 points down at 158.

Among the 24 men’s selected for the national squad against Malaysia include Yousuf Mashriqi, who has made a comeback after a long break. Star players Mustafa Zazai, Khyber Amani and Melad Salem would not be seen in action due to injuries.

Afghanistan’s head coach Petar Segrt has admitted that injuries and players’ engagements with clubs have made the selection hard. "The situation for us is like this, so we have to accept this. This is Afghanistan, there is a situation when the clubs in Germany, where most of our players play in Europe. We have situations when they get injured in the last game for the clubs, and the clubs don't allow them to go, we have to accept it”, he was quoted as saying by Goal.com.

ENDS