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Malaysia coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee wants his team to put on a strong front at home when they tackle North Korea, Hong Kong and Lebanon in a bid to make the 24-team AFC Asian Cup in 2019. The Harimau Malaysia, who begin their third round campaign in March, have been placed in a relatively tough Group B for the next phase of Asian Cup qualifiers. But Ong was optimistic of his side causing a few upsets, with a thorough preparation. "North Korea and Lebanon are the favourites for me, while Hong Kong have also shown progress," said Ong. "But it will not be an impossible task. We have to prepare and ensure we try to get full points when we play at home." Malaysia will travel to Pyongyang to tackle 2010 World Cup participants North Korea on Mar. 28 before hosting Lebanon on June 13. They will then play Hong Kong home and away (Sept. 5 and Oct. 10), before ending 2017 by welcoming the visit of North Korea (Nov. 14). Before their continental qualifiers, Malaysia will face Bahrain in a friendly in early March. Ong is expected to have his national team centralised training after the Malaysia Super League's ninth round of fixtures, which finish on Mar. 19. The bespectacled coach will be hoping for different fortunes in 2017 after enduring a horrendous 2016. For only the third time in AFF history, Malaysia crashed out in the group stages of the 2016 Suzuki Cup in November. In total, they won only five games out of 15 in 2016, including two victories over Timor Leste in the 2019 Asian Cup playoff. Their poor results see them in 161st spot on the current FIFA world rankings. Their opponents for the qualifiers of the Asian Cup -- expanded to 24 teams for 2019 -- all sit above them on the world rankings. North Korea are placed 125th, Hong Kong are 140th, with Lebanon in at 148. Singapore have also been given a tough draw, and will face Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Chinese Taipei in Group E. The top two teams of each group will join the 12 other teams who have already made it to the tournament in the United Arab Emirates in 2019. They are defending champions Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup champions Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts UAE.
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