KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysia Stadium Corporation is attempting to address public complaints regarding the condition of the pitch at Bukit Jalil National Stadium during Harimau Malaya’s match against Oman for the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asia Cup qualifiers on Tuesday.
During that match, Kim Pan-gon’s boys not only lost 0-2, but unfortunate events also struck national defender Azam Azmi Murad, who only managed to play for 24 minutes before suffering a knee injury.
In response, Stadium Corp, in a statement posted on its X account today, stated that they will be convening a meeting with consultants to restore the condition of the National Stadium’s pitch.
“The Malaysia Stadium Corporation will be holding a post-mortem meeting with consultants and the field contractor early next week. (We) are committed to ongoing improvements and will provide feedback after the post-mortem,” read the statement.
Several months ago, concerns were raised about the condition of the stadium pitch, especially following its use as a venue for several international artist’s concerts, including Ed Sheeran’s performance last month.
However, Stadium Corp has reassured the public that they have enlisted the services of international agency Labosport to oversee the preparation of a high-quality pitch for the upcoming match against Chinese Taipei.
Despite Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh refuting claims regarding the poor state of the stadium pitch when a viral photo circulated on social media last week, Tuesday’s match revealed otherwise.
This has led to scrutiny of Stadium Corp’s management, particularly its chairman, Datuk Hans Isaac, who had previously assured that the pitch would be in optimal condition for the match.
With a two-month window before Malaysia faces Chinese Taipei on June 11 for their final Group D match, Stadium Corp is now under pressure to redeem themselves after failing to deliver the expected standards for the stadium pitch. – March 28, 2024