Malaysia vs Solomon Islands

Malaysia and Solomon Islands are set to trade tackles in their first-ever international meeting at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.

Back-to-back wins ‘to nil’ over Hong Kong and Turkmenistan following a dismal 3-1 aggregate loss to Thailand in the 2022 AFF Championship semi-finals last January might have settled some nerves in the Malaysian camp. Considering they’ve emerged victorious in four of their five internationals since the calendar flipped to 2023 (L1), the ‘Malayan Tigers’ have every reason to be optimistic about their effort to live up to their tag as odds-on pre-match favorites. Adding to this sentiment, they have won their last four home matches by an aggregate score of 10-1 after breaking the deadlock within the opening 30 minutes of play to suggest a quick-fire start could be in store. What’s even more impressive is that you’d need to go back to a 4-1 humbling of Bangladesh in June 2022 for the last time they conceded a goal at home.

On the other hand, Solomon Islands may be coming into this encounter off the back of three consecutive victories via multi-goal margins, rounding off a flawless start to 2023, but there’s a reason they’re underdogs in this match-up. Stuck in 134th in FIFA’s men’s rankings, the ‘Bonitos’ lost their most recent meeting with a country of similar stature, going down 5-0 to New Zealand in March 2022. If it’s any consolation, that humiliating result in the 2022 World Cup inter-confederation playoffs remains their solitary defeat and the only scoring blank in their last nine internationals (W7, D1). They can draw further confidence from racking up three multi-goal margin wins ‘to nil’ across their four most recent travels (D1).