Out Of The Question
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will allow the national squad to play their scheduled 2019 Asia Cup qualifier against North Korea on 28 March.
This comes as FAM Secretary-General, Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin rejected any notion to boycott the match as he refuses to take any risks that could bring negative consequences.
“I don’t agree with the boycott because to me, we can’t get too emotional considering it involves the law.
“This is a 2019 Asia Cup Qualifying match, so we are not only playing against North Korea, we also have two other teams (Lebanon & Hong Kong) who are also competing in turn,” Hamidin told Berita Harian
“If we don’t play, automatically we are seen breaking the rules. That’s why we referred to the Asia Football Confederation (AFC) to find the best way to keep the match and if we get to play in a neutral venue, that is enough,”
Hamidin trusts the AFC to handle the matter as he reiterated if the team pulls out, they will be punished by the AFC and FIFA.
How Did The Idea Of Boycott Came About?
It seems Berita Harian reported that the FAM was pressured to boycott the match between North Korea & Malaysia as payback for North Korea barring the 11 Malaysians from leaving the country.
The idea came up when ex-national players brought up how the national team boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games as protest to then-Soviet Union for destroying Afghanistan’s sovereignty and felt the same thing would be the right decision.
An Update On The Neutral Venue Request
Hamidin said the AFC is still mulling over if the match venue will be moved to a neutral place and the decision will be made either today or at the latest, next week. Hamidin also said there are two scenarios involving the request.
“We’re still waiting from the AFC and there are two options for us: We either have the match at a neutral venue or have the match postponed in order to ease the tension,”
Hamidin would be happy if both options were accepted by having the match move to a later date and play at a neutral venue. Hamidin is confident that the match won’t be in Pyongyang.
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