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Thể Thao 247 - With the encounter against East Timor, Malaysia has home advantage in the first round of World Cup 2022.
During the past 10 years, Malaysia is still considered a great team of Southeast Asian football and a huge counterweight of Thailand and Vietnam.Malaysia used to win AFF Cup 2010, recently finish runner-up of AFF Cup 2018.
However, their performance in international level is very poor, making Malaysia only considered as the underdog in Asia. According to World Cup qualifiers 2022 , Malaysia, ranked 168th in the FIFA rankings, had to play the first qualifier for the lowest ranked AFC teams.
At the recent draw, Malaysia is very lucky to face only East Timor. Even, Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe's side is given priority for being in home field in two-legged matches.
According to the draw, Malaysia will face East Timor in the first leg, while 'Tiger' will face an away game against Dili in the second leg. However, the Dili field did not meet the requirements of FIFA and AFC which made a change on using another ground or compete in Malaysia.
Earlier in AFF Cup group stage 2018, East Timor gave home advantage to Thailand. In the remaining matches, coach Fernando Alcantara’s side used a neutral ground in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. So, almost certainly, Timor-Leste will agree to let Malaysia host both matches in the upcoming World Cup 2022 Qualifier.
The match between Malaysia and East Timor will kick off on 6th and 11th June.
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