Malaysia and Jordan will both be hoping to begin their Asian Cup campaigns with a victory when they meet each other at Al Janoub Stadium on Monday.

This will be Malaysia's first match at Asia's major continental tournament since 2007, whereas Jordan have reached four of the last five Asian Cup's.

Match preview

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Malaysia will head into the tournament as underdogs to progress from Group E, with South Korea massive favourites to win the group. However, with three teams progressing from four of the six groups, there is a chance that both of these nations could find themselves in the knockout stages given that Bahrain are also in their group.

Malaysia have the slight advantage of facing the lower-ranked nations before taking on South Korea in their final group game. Two victories would guarantee their place in the last 16, but even three or four points would give them an exceptional chance of progressing from the group stage for the first time in their history.

Indeed, this is the first time the Malayan Tiger's have qualified for the Asian Cup since 1980, as they automatically reached 2007 as co-hosts. Former Hong Kong boss Kim Pan-gon has cemented himself as a hugely popular figure in Malaysia as a result, although the 54-year-old may have an awkward time of things when he takes on his home country on the final matchday.

Malaysia's results have been decent for a considerable period of time now, with only Tajikistan beating them since a 3-0 defeat to Thailand more than a year ago. As such, they will possess genuine belief of springing a slight surprise against Jordan on Monday.

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That will be doubly true when they become aware of Jordan's recent form, with their impressive 2-1 against the Asian Cup hosts and defending champions Qatar last week ending a winless run of seven matches.

Second half strikes from Yazan Al-Naimat and Ali Olwan turned the friendly on its head after Akram Afif had opened the scoring from the penalty spot after only 11 minutes. It was a much needed boost for Hussein Ammouta's side, who had lost to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Norway either side of draws against Iraq and Tajikistan.

Of course, the calibre of their opponents have been much higher than Malaysia's for the most part. Jordan came in 43 places higher than their forthcoming opponents in FIFA's world rankings in December, suggesting they should be targeting a victory in their opening match.

After all, Jordan have reached the knockout stages of the Asia Cup on three occasions since qualifying for the first time in 2004, even progressing to the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2011. While the latter will be a difficult task on current form, there is no reason why they can not achieve the former once again.

Team News

All of Malaysia's squad compete in their own domestic league except Dion Cools, who plays for Buriram United in Thailand, and Junior Eldstal of Dewa United in Indonesia.

Faisal Halim, Safawi Rasid, and Akhyar Rashid are all in double figures in terms of goals scored for their country, suggesting they could line up in a front three on Monday.

Jordan, on the other hand, will likely rest the majority of their goalcoring burden on their all-time record goalscorer Hamza Al-Dardour; the 32-year-old has scored 35 goals in 121 caps for his country.

However, they also have two other players in double figures in the shape of Yazan Al-Namat and Musa Al-Taamari. Al-Taamari is probably Jordan's most talented player, having scored three goals for Montpellier in Ligue 1 since joining them last summer.

Malaysia possible starting lineup:
Hazmi; Davies, Eldstal, Cools; Hanapi, Fazail, Wilkin, Corbin-Ong; Halim, Rasid, Akhyar

Jordan possible starting lineup:
Abu Laila; Nasib, Al-Arab, Al-Ajalin; Haddad, Rashdan, Al-Rawabdeh, Al Mardhi; Al-Taamari, Al-Naimat, Olwan

We say: Malaysia 1-1 Jordan

This is a difficult match to predict, so we are opting for a draw. Both teams are likely to be desperate to avoid defeat on matchday one, as that would leave their chances of progressing to the knockout stages hanging by a thread. It could be a cagey encounter devoid of inspiration and individual quality as a result.

Written by
Brett Curtis

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