Foul!

MALAYSIA is keen on mending ties with North Korea though the Asian Cup qualifier between both nations after diplomatic relations between Putrajaya and Pyongyang soured following Kim Jong-nam's murder at klia2 on Feb 13. It is learnt a "very senior government official" would like for the match to carry on at the Kim Il-sung Stadium on Oct 5, after it was postponed twice from its original date of March 28 due to geo-political tensions. Malaysia and North Korea withdrew their representatives from their respective embassies following the saga. The Malaysian Embassy in Pyongyang is being operated by the locals. None of the Malaysian staff have returned to the isolated nation. It is also understood officials from North Korea, had during the Fifa Congress in Bahrain in May, invited the FA of Malaysia (FAM) to visit the country and its stadium ahead of the match.  It remains unclear if FAM will take up the offer. But as far as the Asian Football Confederati...

This article was written by current Sportswriters Association of Malaysia president Ahmad Khawari Isa during his time at Berita Harian. The article below was written by News Straits Times sports editor Vijesh Rai when he was covering football as a journalist. Both articles appeared on July 30, 1999. It says a lot. It also comes to no surprise to why some fans left the Shah Alam Stadium disgruntled after Malaysia lost 1-0 to Qatar in an Asian Cup qualifying match. HD says: When will we be serious? When will we ever start a major revamp?

Malaysia went down 2-0 against Qatar in the opening match of the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers in Doha. Khalfan Ibrahim scored Qatar's first goal in the early part of the second half through a free kick as the ball deflected the Malaysian defenders and flew past goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat. Khalfan almost scored another goal in the dying minutes of the match but his shot was stopped by the posts. Nevertheless, Yusef Ahmed hardly broke a sweat as he slotted in the ball across the line in the final minute of the match due to a serious flaw by the Malaysian backline. Mahalli Jasuli gave a credible performance in the engine room while referee Faghani Alireza from Iran deserves special mention for managing the game well. The Malaysian side, although being able to contain the Qatari team, were fangless up front and hardly tested goalkeeper Qasem Burhan. Malaysia will next play Yemen on March 22 at the Shah Alam Stadium. Qatar Qasem Burhan, Hamid Ismaeil, Abdelkarim Hassan...