Malaysia vs Hong Kong

Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil plays host as Malaysia and Hong Kong go head-to-head in an all-Asian international friendly.

Malaysia have alternated between victories (2) and defeat (1) in their three international fixtures in 2022. While their solitary reverse arrived against Singapore in late March (1-2), the two wins they achieved in that three-game sequence came by 2+ goals ‘to nil’ versus Philippines and Brunei. Interestingly, all of those three games have featured the opening goal within 30 minutes of play, with two producing 2+ first-half goals, which highlights the potential for plenty of early action. Entertainment aside, the ‘Malayan Tigers’ will be out to defy their underwhelming four-game winless H2H streak (D3, L1) and post their first victory over Hong Kong since a 3-0 triumph in October 2012.

In the meantime, Hong Kong head to Kuala Lumpur for their first international game in 2022, desperate to put a catastrophic ending to 2021 firmly behind them. Indeed, the ‘Strength’ lost three consecutive World Cup qualifying fixtures down the final stretch of the last calendar year by an aggregate scoreline of 8-1, conceding 3+ goals in two of them. Unfortunately for the head coach Jorn Andersen, those three reverses are part of Hong Kong’s disastrous six-game losing streak in international action. That abysmal run spanning back to December 2019 saw Hong Kong fail to get on the scoresheet in four of those six matches and concede 2+ goals in all but one of them.