CORNELLI EYES FRIENDLIES AS KEY PREP FOR MALAYAN TIGRESS TO ASIAN CUP QUALIFIERS

PETALING JAYA, May 17 (Bernama) -- New Malayan Tigress head coach Joel Cornelli has described the two upcoming international football friendlies against Bhutan and Hong Kong, and two matches against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as ideal preparations for the team ahead of his first major task at the 2026 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Cornelli said the upcoming fixtures will be crucial for him to assess the capabilities of his squad and implement his footballing philosophy before heading to Tajikistan in June.

“This will be a very important week of training to get to know the players and to start implementing my philosophy and game model with the team. 

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“Bhutan and Hong Kong are not in our qualifying group, but it is very important to see the level of our team at this moment because this is the only available match window," he told reporters at the opening ceremony of the Women’s League Qualifying Round at the PKNS Field here today.

The national team are set to take part in the Tier 1 Tri-Nation International Series in Thimphu, Bhutan, facing Bhutan (May 31) and Hong Kong ( June 4), before travelling to the UAE for two more warm-up matches on June 20 and 22.

Cornelli said the friendlies would allow him to address weaknesses in the squad, particularly in attacking and finishing.

“I’ve only seen the girls in video footage matches against Indonesia, Cambodia in August, and Saudi Arabia, and we didn’t score many goals.

“Of course, we need to work on that during these friendly matches so I can identify the best positions for the players and better understand where our weaknesses lie,” he said.

For the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers, Malaysia have been placed in a challenging Group H, alongside three-time champions North Korea.

Malaysia will also meet Palestine and Tajikistan, who will host the qualifiers from June 23 to July 5.

Only the group champions will advance to the finals, which will take place in Australia from March 1 to 21 next year. 

Malaysia last qualified for the Women's Asian Cup in 1995 when they hosted the tournament. The national team's best-ever performance in the tournament was a third-place finish in the 1983 edition, held in Thailand.

-- BERNAMA