King Raja's chance to redeem himself..

Malaysia, currently on a slump will have to beat South Asian giants, India in their upcoming friendlies at Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Sarusajai, Guwahati and Salt Lake Stadium at Colcatta.

India, who are in the midst of preparations for the South Asian Football Confederation Cup, will be facing the Harimau Malaya side on November 13and 16 respectively as India wants to retain the trophy.

"The All India Football Federation is pleased to confirm two international friendlies for the Indian senior team against the Malaysian senior team," the AIFF said in a release. 


India played their last international friendly on August 25 when they lost to Guyana 1-2 during their two-match trip of the Caribbeans under interim coach Armando Colaco. 


India are currently ranked 163rd in the FIFA charts while Malaysia are at 147th spot. The SAFF Cup will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here from December 2-12.

K.Rajagopal who is under pressure after the debacle against Australia at Canberra, will be looking forward to these ties intently as he has selected a strong training squad for the two friendly matches in India.

Safiq Rahim, Abdul Hadi Yahya, Amirulhadi Zainal and Abdul Manaf Mamat have been called up to the National squad and they will have to slog it out to get into Rajagopal's squad.

K.Rajagopal, who experimented against Malaysia, saw his plan backfired and this time he is taking a cautious approach by roping in seasoned National players for the friendly.

India, led by the likes of Subrata Pal, Sunil Chetri and Climax Lawrence are also on a dry spell and they will surely want to beat their higher ranked opponents to boost up their confidence.

Armando Colaco will surely want to impress his employees as he surely wants to keep his job with the side and if he succeeds in impressing against Malaysia and the SAFF cup, Armando will be the man for India.