Pestabola Merdeka: Lebanon Coach Says Harimau Malaya Are Stronger Now

PETALING JAYA, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- Lebanon is expecting a stronger Harimau Malaya side in the 2024 Merdeka Tournament (Pestabola Merdeka) final tomorrow, compared to the previous encounters in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers. 

The national football team suffered identical 1-2 defeats to The Cedars under the charge of Miodrag Radulovic in the third round of Group B qualifiers in Johor Bahru in June 2017 and in Beirut in March 2018. 

The Montenegrin, who is back to coach world number 116th Lebanon last year, said there are big differences in the transformed Malaysian team, which is also powered by a few naturalised players now.

“Several players are very valuable (in each position), they have impressive quality and look very well against the Philippines few days earlier. Tomorrow will be very good for me and my players to gain a very good experience to play against a strong team. 

“I show the (previous) game and we analysed Malaysia team video, with several naturalised player, they are looking very well, strong. The players have individual quality, really impressive, and will be very tough game tomorrow,” he said in the pre-match press conference here, today. 

However, the 56-year-old coach is prepared to tame Harimau Malaya, after getting ‘secrets’ of the Malaysian players from some of his charges in Lebanon and Montenegro, who are playing the Malaysian League, besides having acclimatised to the local weather and jet-lag. 

He also hopes to see more fans attend the final at 9 pm tomorrow at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, as the hosts will be looking to end a decade of trophy drought after having last lifted the trophy in 2013. 

Meanwhile, midfielder Gabriel Bitar is confident of notching victory in their maiden Pestabola Merdeka participation, if the team maintains its discipline and be organised in both attack and defence. 

“Malaysia have a lot of technical and quality players…If we're organised, I don't think they can really break us down and so, we should keep ourselves compact and our defence tight and I think we should be able to win,” he said. 

Lebanon advanced to the final after beat defending champions Tajikistan 1-0 on Wednesday, while the 12-time champion Malaysia edged the Philippines 2-1. 

-- BERNAMA