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LAHORE: The Pakistan-Malaysia Asian Olympic Qualifier clash has been moved from the Kuala Lumpur Football Association Stadium in Cheras and will now be hosted by the 69,372 capacity Shah Alam Stadium in Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Shah Alam Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium and Selangor State’s largest, will host the seventh meeting between the two sides on February 23, while the return leg will take place in Lahore, Pakistan on March 9.
The match will be the first-ever meeting between the two countries at age-limit (U23), Olympic level. Both the nations have faced each other six times with Malaysia enjoying four wins compared to Pakistan’s one. Two matches ended in draws.
Malaysia’s youth team are currently champions of both events in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN. Their coach Rajagopal Krishnasamy, best-known for guiding Malaysia U23 side to its first gold medal in 20 years at the 2009 Southeast Asian (SEA) Asian Games in Laos, will be against Pakistani coach Tariq Lutfi who returned back to National team after 2005 when Pakistan outscored Sukhvinder Singh-coached India in a drawn 3-match series - the only Sub continent footballe series held so far.
Raja Gopal is also coach of National team that beat neighbor Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate in the two-match final to win the ASEAN Suzuki Cup Southeast Asia's premier tournament for the first time last December 2010.
