SPORTS> Teams
Malaysia (Group C)

Updated: 2007-07-07 20:35
A force in Asian football in the late 1970s, Malaysia have suffered a sharp drop-off in recent years and enter the 2007 AFC Asian Cup as the lowest-ranked of the 16 teams.

Malaysia's ranking reached an all-time low of 33rd in Asia and 157th in the world in January but they gave fans something to cheer that same month when they reached the semi-finals of the Asean Football Championship despite a 1-0 defeat to Thailand in the group stage.

The four-time SEA Games gold-medallists were within sight of their first appearance in the Asean final since 1996 when Eddy Helmi Manan gave them a 2-1 aggregate lead against Singapore in the second leg of their semi-final.

Malaysian fans are far from optimistic about the prospects of Norizan Bakar's side at the Asian Cup and progress to the knockout stage from a group that includes Iran, China and Uzbekistan does indeed appear unlikely for the co-hosts and one-time powers of Asian football.

Goalkeepers
1 Azizon Abdul Kadir
21 Suffian Abdul Rahman
30 Syed Adney Hussain
Defenders
2 Hamzani Omar
3 Fauzi Nan
4 Nazrulerwan Makmor
6 Thirumurugan V
7 Khaironnisam Sahabuddin Hussain
17 Nanthakumar Kalliappan
19 Rosdi Talib
23 Mohamad Aidil Zafuan
25 Ronny Harun
29 Subramaniam S
Midfielders
5 Norhafiz Zamani Misbah
9 Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan
10 Mohd Hardi Jaafar
11 Nor Farhan Muhammad
12 Shukor Adan
15 Sharulnizam Mustapha
16 Ahmad Fauzi Saari
18 Mohd Fadzli Saari
23 Mohd Ivan bin Mohd Yusoff
24 Khyril Muhymeen Zambri
26 Amirulhadi Zainal
27 Azi Shahril Azmi
28 Rezal Zambri Yahya
Forwards
8 Safee Sali
13 Indra Putra Mahayuddin
14 Akmal Rizal Rakhli
20 Hairuddin Omar