KUALA LUMPUR: New Zealand might be the favourites and highly motivated to play in front of their home crowd after over 18 months, but the Harimau Malaya squad is undaunted ahead of the friendly clash at the Go Media Stadium in Auckland, tomorrow.
Harimau Malaya head coach Pau Marti Vicente remains optimistic about the chances of making history by securing Malaysia’s first-ever win against the All Whites on their home ground, which would improve his team’s world ranking from the current 132nd.
Speaking before the match against the world number 95 New Zealand, Vicente admitted that his team will face an uphill task against the highly motivated home side.
“They have a lot of players playing in Europe’s top leagues, and New Zealand doesn’t play here too often as the national team normally plays away, so we must be ready to face a very difficult game. We need to blend everything according to our style, how we want to play and approach them, rectify a few things from the previous game, and see how we can exploit our best options based on their game.
“We have a good chance to move under 130 in the world ranking, one more step forward for this group of players. I think we have our own motivation to improve. We are fortunate to have all 22 players ready to play this game (without injuries),” the Spaniard said in a video shared by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
On Friday, the Harimau Malaya squad were tied 1-1 against Auckland FC, while New Zealand beat Tahiti 3-0 in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in Vanuatu, with English Premier League outfit, Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood among the scorers.
The friendly fixture against Malaysia will be the All Whites’ first home match since defeating China 2-1 in March 2023, as New Zealand has played away matches against the likes of Mexico, the United States, Ireland and Greece since then.
Meanwhile, New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley said his boys understand the importance of delivering an entertaining and stylish performance with some good goals to engage the local crowd after a long absence.
“I know for them (Malaysia) it’s an important part of the process, but we need to put on a good performance at home. We have not played at home for 18 months now, so it’s the right opportunity to connect with everyone back here.
“Every game brings different challenges. If you look at the history over the last two years, we have faced some tough away matches against highly ranked teams. Now we are playing a team that ranks lower than us, which brings different challenges,” he said during a press conference.
Based on online records, Malaysia has only won twice and drawn twice in 12 previous meetings with the All Whites.
The last match between the two sides, a friendly in February 2006, saw New Zealand beat Malaysia 2-1 in Auckland.
