In Search Of 1st Win Of 2024, Indian Football Team Faces Malaysia Challenge

Still searching for the first win of the year as well as under head coach Manolo Marquez, India face familiar rivals Malaysia in an international friendly football match in Hyderabad on Monday. India will be bolstered by the return of senior player and central defender Sandesh Jhingan almost 10 months after last playing for the national team at the AFC Asian Cup in January. He has recovered from his anterior cruciate ligament injury. The Indian team has played 10 matches so far in the year, losing six of them and drawing four. They have so far played three games under Manolo, who was appointed head coach in July in place of Igor Stimac, and lost once while drawing twice.

India drew against Mauritius and lost 0-3 to Syria in the Intercontinental Cup in September at the Gachibowli Stadium, the venue of Monday's match. The team drew with Vietnam 1-1 in its last match in Nam Dinh on October 12.

If the Indian team does not get a positive result on Monday, it will end the year without a win in 11 matches. Monday's match could also be India's last before the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers in March next year.

The India-Malaysia football rivalry goes back a long way. Since their first meeting in a 1957 friendly in Kuala Lumpur, which India won 3-0, until last year's Merdeka tournament semifinal clash in which Malaysia emerged 4-2 winners, the two sides have faced each other 32 times.

That's the most number of times India have played against any opponent in international football, followed by Pakistan (29 matches) and Bangladesh (28 matches).

There's nothing to separate the two sides in head-to-head results. The Blue Tigers and the Harimau Malaya have won 12 matches each, while eight have ended in draws.

There is also little difference