PETALING JAYA: World number 80 Oman are confident they can get the job done against Malaysia when the two teams meet in a Group D match in the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tomorrow.
Having defeated Harimau Malaya 2-0 in Muscat on Friday (March 22 Malaysian time), Oman head coach Jaroslav Silhavy (pix) is bent on seeing his team secure another win despite being aware of the challenge of playing away from home.
“We hope to get the same result as in Oman but we know that Malaysia is a very organised team and will play at home.
“But we are not too worried because we focus only on ourselves and we’ll play to win,” he told a pre-match press conference at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya here today.
Elaborating, Silhavy also believes that his men can overcome the pressure of playing in front of the Harimau Malaya fans and take home all three points.
“We believe in our players, we prepared well and they (players) know so much about the Malaysian team,” he added.
Meanwhile, Oman’s Ali Al-Busaidi is confident that the Red Warriors will emerge victorious tomorrow, whatever the circumstances.
“We are here to win because we want to stay top of the group, so we have to win and we will do it. We will win, no matter what. Of course, we respect Malaysia, they have good players but we have a coach who knows everything, he knows how to face Malaysia,” said the 33-year-old midfielder.
After three matches in Group D, only goal difference separates the top three teams, with Oman in top spot, Kyrgyzstan second and Malaysia third, despite all three having six points each. Taiwan are at the bottom of the standings without any points.
Malaysia’s next match will be away against Kyrgyzstan (world number 104) in Bishkek on June 6 before completing their group fixtures at home against Taiwan (world number 153) in Bukit Jalil on June 11. -Bernama
