Malaysia national team coach Ong Kim Swee has come up with a plan to improve his team's FIFA world rankings, starting with the game against Timor Leste.
Having taken over the hot seat on a permanent basis from Dollah Salleh, Ong has already mapped out his plans for Harimau Malaysia in the coming months, with his primary focus on the upcoming 2019 Asian Cup qualifying tie against Timor Leste on June 2 and 7.
He has also arranged for four international friendlies around those dates -- Myanmar (May 28) and an Oceania tour from June 17-26 where they will play Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Fiji.
Positive results in those games will give Malaysia the opportunity to improve on their lowly world ranking of 174, which is cause for concern for the new man in charge.
"Ranking is important for us, but let us look at the Timor Leste match first ... winning this match will enable us to play in the Asian Cup group stage and provide us with the opportunity to further improve our ranking," Ong told The Star.
"My predecessor [Dollah] didn't have enough matches [to improve on the world ranking], but this time we have ample matches. We have also planned to play six friendlies during the next FIFA international calendar in September to November ... they will serve as a build-up to the AFF Suzuki Cup."
Ong named a 25-man squad for the upcoming matches, with 11 new recruits including Khair Jones of New Zealand-Malaysian parentage.
Also included are Johor Darul Ta'zim midfielder Junior Eldstal, Fakri Saarani (Kedah), R. Gopinathan (Selangor) and the baby of the squad, 20-year-old S. Kumaahran from Penang.
The most notable exclusions from Ong's latest squad are JDT veteran forward Safee Sali, Terengganu's Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Kelantan's Indra Putra Mahayuddin.
Malaysia squad for June fixtures:
Goalkeepers: Mohd Izham Tarmizi Roslan (JDT), Mohd Farhan Abu Bakar (Kedah), Khairul Fahmi Che Mat (Kelantan).
Defenders: Mohamad Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, Mohamad Fadhli Mohd Shas, Junior Eldstal, S. Kunalan, Muhammad Fazly Mazlan (JDT), Muhammad Shahrom Abdul Kalam (Selangor), Matthew Davies (Pahang), Khair Jones (Malacca)
Midfielders: Safiq Rahim, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal, S. Chanthuru (JDT), Mohd Azrif Nasrulhaq Badrul Hisham, R. Gopinathan (Selangor), Baddrol Bakhtiar, Mohamad Amirul Hisyam Awang Kechik, Ahmad Fakri Saarani (Kedah), Brendan Gan (Kelantan), Christie Jayaseelan (Felda Utd), Abdul Latiff Suhaimi (PDRM)
Strikers: Mohd Amri Yahyah (JDT), Ahmad Hazwan Bakri (Selangor), S. Kumaahran (Penang)