LAHORE, Oct 7: The Pakistan football team left for Malaysia on Tuesday to play a friendly match against the host country in preparation of the upcoming tough events –– the 40th Merdeka Cup and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.

Four-time SEA Games Champions Malaysia will take on the Essa-led Pakistan at the ancient Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The 40th Merdeka Cup is to be held at Selangor’s Shah Alam Stadium from Oct 15-25 while Indonesia/Thailand will act as the hosts for the Suzuki Cup from Dec 5-28.

The officials of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), the governing body for football in the country, invited Pakistan to note the fine points and weaknesses of the Malaysian National team during the friendy. The encounter will also provide international exposure to the Pakistan team to check their strength for their upcoming assignments in the international arena, particularly for the AFC Challenge Cup in April 2009.

It is the first time that a well-known football-playing country like Malaysia, while accepting Pakistan’s standing in world of football, has called them for an international friendly in order to test their own national team.

Malaysia, who returned from Slovakia recently, emerged as the Merdeka Cup champions last year under their current chief coach B. Sathianathan when they defeated Myanmar 3-1 in the final. The invitation from the South Asian nation is significant and morale-boosting for Pakistan.

Squad:

Mohammad Essa (captain), Imran Niazi (vice-captain), Bilal Rafiq, Amir Gul, Samar Ishaq, Mohammad Imran, Nasratullah Khan, Mohammad Qasim, Mohammad Ahmed, Farhan Qadir, Mohammad Waseem, Yasir Sabir, Farooq Shah, Asif Mahmood, Mohammad Rasool, Adeel Ahmed, Abid Khan, Haji Mohammad, Michael Masih and Arif Mehmood.

Officials: Shahzad Anwar (coach); Kamran Mehdi (physio).— Agencies