Malaysia Face Bahrain Hurdle In 2010 World Cup Qualifying Round

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 (Bernama)

The Malaysian national team that suffered an embarrassing outing in the Asian Cup recently, may face a similar fate after being drawn against Bahrain in the Asian Zone first qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

In the draw held at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Bukit Jalil today, Malaysia, ranked 154 in the FIFA world ranking and 31 in Asia, open their campaign in an away tie against Bahrain who are ranked 88, on Oct 8, and face the Middle-Eastern country here on Oct 28.

"Though the fixtures clash with the fasting month, we do not foresee any problems," AFC assistant general-secretary Carlo K. Nohra told reporters after the draw here today.He said according to the AFC competition rules, matches would start only two hours after breaking fast.Nohra said Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine would be allowed to choose their home ground venues because of prevailing unstable conditions in their respective countries.

In the 2006 World Cup qualifying round, Malaysia lost all their group matches against Hong Kong, China and Kuwait.On the other hand, Bahrain qualified to play in the play-off stage against CONCACAF representative Trinidad and Tobago for a final slot but lost 1-2.Out of the 43 Asian countries involved in the qualifying rounds, Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran received byes for the first round based on their performance in the last World Cup.And from the 38 remaining countries who compete in the first round, 11 winners automatically join the five for the Asian Zone final round, while eight other teams play against each other for four more slots.

Asia will have four confirmed slots for the World Cup final while the fifth team will be involved in a play-off for one more slot against the CONCACAF representative.

ROUND 1 Fixtures (Oct 8):Pakistan vs Iraq, Uzbekistan vs Chinese Taipei, Thailand vs Macau, Sri Lanka vs Qatar, China vs Myanmar, Bhutan vs Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan vs Jordan, Vietnam vs UAE, Bahrain vs Malaysia, Timor Leste vs Hong Kong, Syria vs Afghanistan, Yemen vs Maldives, Bangladesh vs Tajikistan, Mongolia vs North Korea, Oman vs Nepal, Palestine vs Singapore, Lebanon vs India, Cambodia vs Turkmenistan, Guam vs Indonesia.-- BERNAMA

Another hurdles and poor outing for Malaysian team ?