When they play in Group D on Thursday, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan will both be looking to start their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaigns strongly.
There has only ever been one previous encounter between these two countries, which occurred in October 2018 when Kyrgyzstan defeated them 1-0 in a friendly game.
Malaysia had never made it to the World Cup, but even though they were not able to play in Qatar last year, they had their best-ever qualification campaign, finishing third in Group G with four victories and four losses.
However, the Malayan Tigers have qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time since 1980, and they will be playing in Qatar come New Year's Day. Malaysia participated in the 2007 Asian Cup, although they lost all three of their group matches after earning automatic qualification as co-hosts.
Asia will gain from eight guaranteed qualification positions for the 2019 World Cup in North America, which will be extended to 48 teams. This means that the best two teams from each group will move on to the next round.
As a result, Kim Pan-gon's team will think they have a good chance of winning because they were placed in a weaker group with Chinese Taipei, Oman, and Kyrgyzstan.
With 16 victories in 25 games as manager since January 2022, former Hong Kong coach Pan-gon has definitely improved Malaysia.
In their quest to qualify for a World Cup for the first time in their history, they would be well-positioned from the start if they could defeat Kyrgyzstan on Thursday.
Kyrgyzstan, who have only been participating as an independent nation since 1992 due to the fall of the Soviet Union, has also never qualified for the World Cup.
The White Falcons, who are attempting to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, also placed third in their group with three victories, one tie, and four losses, placing them behind Tajikistan and Japan in Group F.
Stefan Tarkovic's team qualified for Asia's premier competition for the second time in a row, and will play in Qatar in the New Year after losing 3-2 in extra time to the hosts in the first knockout round of the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
Tarkovic, the former Slovakian manager, would have like his squad's performance to have improved before their midweek trip to Malaysia, but he still expects his team to finish in the top two spots in Group D and move on to the next round. The team has lost four of their last five games.
