'We are ready, we are confident' Aidil set to miss Lions' date but insists M'sia can win despite recent defensive woes

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SINGAPORE - They have conceded a total of 14 goals in their last four games, but K Rajagobal's Malaysia will arrive here tomorrow in a confident mood, ahead of their crunch tie against arch-rivals Singapore at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday.

The reigning ASEAN champions beat Taiwan 2-1 at home and lost the away leg 3-2 in the first round of Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers to book their second-round date with Singapore.

Last week, they were mauled 4-0 by Arsenal at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, and Liverpool ran out 6-3 winners at the same venue three days later.

Speaking to Today, Tigers' central defender Aidil Zafuan, who is racing against time to recover from an ankle injury suffered during the loss to Arsenal last Wednesday, brushed off his team's inconsistency in defence.

Said Aidil: "We've had a problem in defence in the last couple of games, it has been shaky, because we tend to lose concentration near the end of the game.

"But the coach has been focusing on the defence to bring our level back up.

"We are confident. We did well against Liverpool. Despite conceding six goals, we managed to score three and that bodes well."

Indeed, coach Rajagobal felt the team's attacking display against Liverpool indicated his men were fit, hungry and confident, and suggested they were ready for the Lions.

The latest edition of the highly-charged Causeway derby is the hottest ticket in town, with all seats at the 6,000-capacity Jalan Besar venue sold out after around six hours when it went on sale last Saturday.

The return leg at the 90,000-capacity Bukit Jalil Stadium on July 28 promises an electric atmosphere as well, especially if the tie is "alive" for both teams.

Besides the traditional rivalry, the match means even more for Malaysia as they have never been in the third round of World Cup qualifiers.

Radojko Avramovic's Lions reached the third round last time out, and Aidil says they respect their opponents, especially Singapore's attacking threat, singling out old warhorse Aleksandar Duric for special mention. The 40-year-old proved he can still do the job at the international level, scoring a brace in Singapore's 3-2 win over Taiwan in the Lions' final tune-up two days ago.

"I've played against Duric before and I know how strong he is. His biggest advantage is that he's tall and we don't have that kind of height in our defence," said the 23-year-old.

"Shahril Ishak is also dangerous with his speed and technique ... but we'll just stick to the coach's defensive instructions."

Aidil sat with an ice pack around his right ankle during a training session last Friday, and even if he misses out on Saturday, he is confident the Tigers' defence will hold firm.

"My ankle is doing better, maybe I will be able to play, but even if I don't recover in time, we've got able replacements in the defence," he said.

"I missed last year's AFF Suzuki Cup competition and that didn't stop the team from winning.

"We've heard that Singapore are preparing well, and we have respect for their team ... but we are ready and we are confident."