Malaysia vs Nepal 02/06/19

2 June 2019

Malaysia come face-to-face with Nepal for a friendly challenge this weekend, as two Asian nations face-off at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

It will be the first H2H meeting between these two nations in the 21st century, with Malaysia racking up three wins in four of their previous H2Hs with Nepal without conceding a single goal in the process (W3, D1).

Thanks to a 2-1 away win over Afghanistan, the hosts have managed to bring a four-game winless run to an end (D2, L2) but have also failed to keep a clean sheet for the fifth game in a row. Even though his players have struggled to find the net in three of their last seven outings, Tan Cheng Hoe can be encouraged by the fact that the Malayan Tigers have netted 2+ match goals in the remaining four. Interestingly, all of Malaysia’s five defeats in the past ten months have seen them fail to score, with three of them ending with the same 1-0 scoreline against their favor. Meanwhile, six of their seven triumphs in the same span have seen them score over 1.5 match goals, with ‘Skuad Kebangsaan’ bagging 3+ match goals five times along the way.

On the other hand, the visitors are not only winless in their last five outings (D1, L4), but they’ve also failed to score a single goal in that period. Notably, four of those games have featured under 2.5 goals, with three of them producing one goal or less. Nepal’s immense problems in the final third have seen them score over 1.5 match goals only twice in their previous 16 games, failing to find the net nine times in the process. Johan Kalin can’t be happy about his team’s defensive displays either, as the Gorkhalis have managed just four clean sheets during the same period.