LONDON, May 8: Manchester United officials are confident the club's planned summer tour of Asia will go ahead, despite being told they will not be welcome in Malaysia during July because of fears their visit will distract attention from the finals of the Asian Cup.
The newly-crowned English champions, who have a massive fan-base across Asia, are due to play matches in the Chinese territory of Macau, Japan and South Korea, and had been scheduled to end their tour by facing a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur on July 27.
The final leg now looks as if it will have rescheduled or cancelled after local football chiefs caved in to pressure from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and said they would not sanction the match taking place in July.
“We are currently attempting to clarify with our tour organisers what the situation is in regards to Malaysia but we are confident that the rest of the tour will go ahead,” United spokesman Phil Townsend told AFP.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter revealed earlier on Tuesday that he was liasing with England's Football Association to try and get United to change their tour plans out of respect to the Asian Cup finals, which are being held in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from July 7-29.
“You are welcome but please come at a time that is acceptable to the whole football family,” Blatter said at the AFC Congress in the Malaysian capital.
“As FIFA president I appeal for your solidarity.
“If a big club is touring we appeal for a minimum of respect when they plan to travel to the region when the Asian Cup is being played.”The vice-president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Tengku Abdullah Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah joined AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam in calling for United's entire pre-season tour to be called off.
“If they want to come (to Malaysia) during that time they can't,” Tengku Abdullah told reporters. “The sanction has not been given by the AFC and we have to follow it. Manchester United cannot come to Malaysia during the Asian Cup. They will have to rearrange their schedule.”
Bin Hammam had described United as “disrespectful” for scheduling a tour during Asian football's showpiece event and warned that, if the Kuala Lumpur match went ahead, the FAM would be in breach of a contractual commitment not to organise other games during the tournament.—AFP