Malaysia have appointed local coach K. Rajagopal as boss of their struggling national team, local media has reported.

Rajagopal, the current under-23 coach, will be in charge for the rest of Malaysia's 2011 Asian Cup qualifying campaign, for which they are bottom of their group. "It is a challenge and I will do my best for the country," he told the Star newspaper.

Malaysia opted for a local coach rather than a foreigner to channel their limited funds into developing better players for the future, federation secretary-general Azzuddin Ahmad said recently.