Rajagobal concerned by toothless Harimau

By FOX Sports staff

Harimau Malaya will be looking to get their Asian Cup qualification campaign up and running on Friday when they take on Yemen at the Shah Alam Stadium, having opened with a 2-0 defeat to Qatar on February 6.

The clash represents their best chance to get a win on the board given their opponents are not expected to pose as much of a challenge as Qatar and Bahrain - the other two sides in the group who also meet this week at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa.

However, Malaysia's preparations were far from ideal as they fell to a 4-1 home defeat to Saudi Arabia in a friendly on Friday, with their only goal coming in the second half thanks to a brilliant strike from captain Safiq Rahim.

Rajagobal's strikers have now gone three full games without scoring after defeats to the Saudis and Qatar, as well as a 3-0 friendly loss to Iraq at the start of last month, meaning the last time one of them hit the back of the net was last December when Norshahrul Idlan Talaha opened the scoring in the 1-1 AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final first-leg draw with Thailand.

And the Malaysia boss admits this could be a real problem, especially with Safee Sali missing through injury.

"Our goal against the Saudis came from a midfielder," he told The Star. "I'm concerned with our strikers but at the moment, Norshahrul is the only natural striker available.

"As you can see in the M-League [Malaysia Super League], the local strikers are not on form and it is limiting the selection options for the national team.

"It is a problem and I hope the players available will buck up."

Although Harimau Malaya were never really expected to get a result last weekend against their more-illustrious opponents, who qualified for four straight editions of the FIFA World Cup from 1994 to 2006, Rajagobal believes there were some positives to take from that loss.

"We played well in patches," he added. "I'm happy with the players' performance despite the defeat.

"This match gave us a valuable insight into our strengths and weaknesses before we play Yemen."

Following Friday's clash, Malaysia's next qualifier will come on October 15 when they entertain Bahrain.