A new football tournament that brings together a mixed pot of talent from the various continents comes into being next month.

Called the invitational Intercontinental Cup to be staged in Kuala Lumpur on May 15-25, the eight-nation tournament promises to be a 10-day football spectacle, featuring the stars of tomorrow, today.

Born of an intense passion and love for the game, the Cup is an avenue for teams bound for the Beijing Olympics to fine-tune their preparations.

In Olympic terms, Argentina, Nigeria and Australia are footballing giants who stand an equal chance of mounting the podium in Beijing.

The world would then be watching the Intercontinental Cup with bated breath. Co-incidentally the draw of the Olympic Games will beheld on Sunday, just two days after today’s launch.

Argentina were drawn in Group B of the Intercontinental Cup with the likes of Croatia, Ghana and Australia, certainly the Group of death for the inaugural event. Hosts Malaysia will do battle with Iraq, Rep of Ireland and Nigeria in Group A.

The Intercontinental Cup is promoted and financed by renowned player in the global stage, Octagon, with the co-operation of FA of Malaysia as the organisers.

Octagon UK head of football Phil Carling said he was happy to organise a tournament in Kuala Lumpur considering the nation’s passion and devotion for the game.

“The game of football transcends ethnic, linguistic, social and economic boundaries. Its greatest asset is its simplicity and its language instantly understood anywhere.

“We hope by having this tournament here, it will add to the momentum of making Malaysia and Asia the developmental focus of the next millennium,” said Carling.

FA of Malaysia general secretary Lt Jen (Rtd) Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad believed Malaysia has the infrastructure, the facilities and the human capital to make the event a resounding success.

“On the pitch, it also gives the national Under-23 side much-needed exposure ahead of the Tiger Cup in December,” said Datuk Azzuddin.

Argentina, the Athens 2004 gold medallists with an impeccable track record in age group football, shall start as favourites to retain the gold in Beijing.

Having his resources scattered worldwide, Argentina Olympic coach Sergio Batista can call upon starlets Lionel Messi, Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero to don the Albicelestes.

Malaysian fans may bear witness to Batista’s homegrown talent such as Jonathan Maidana, Damian Escudero, Augusto Fernadez, Gabriel Paletta, Alejandro Gomez or emerging talents already based in Europe like Ezequiel Garay, Emiliano Insua, Franco Di Santo and Lucas Biglia.

Australia or the Olyroos boast of a number of talented youngsters, including Matthew Spiranovic of Nurnberg, James Wesolowski, Adrian Leijer, Adam Federici, Neil Kilkenny and Dario Vidosic.

Graham Arnold’s squad will have a camp in Australia early in May before jetting off to Malaysia. Five weeks ago, the Olyroos drew 1-1 with Mexico in front of a 40,000 crowd in San Francisco.

These matches continue an impressive match schedule for the Olyroos who qualified for the Olympics with a 1-1 draw in Pyongyang, North Korea last November.

With Danny Vukovic unlikely to play at the Olympics, Arnold may use the Kuala Lumpur stint as an opportunity to have a look at Liverpool’s promising reserve team goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.

The Nigerian Olympic squad are already dubbed Dream Team IV, illustrating the nation’s high expectations of Samson Siasia’s disciples.

The Flying Eagles became the final team to earn a ticket to Beijing but are likely to be the most charismatic of the African representatives.

With the 2005 World Youth Championship runners-up team forming the nucleus of Siasia’s soldiers, Nigeria seem on course to repeat the golden effort of the 1996 generation that boasted Nwankwo Kanu.

Everton striker Victor Anichebe and Olympique Marseille’s Taye Taiwo are the pick of the current crop.

Siasia who guided his team to the African Youth Championship and later the World Youth Championship runners-up in 2005, has already been linked to the hotseat at Bolton Wanderers.

The matches will be played at the KLFA Stadium in Cheras and the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya. Tickets for the preliminary rounds will be priced at RM10 and RM15 for the terrace and grandstand respectively. For the semis stage onwards the tickets will cost RM15 and RM30.

yeah!
first match for malaysia will be against Ireland.
cheer for our national team and please go to support the game!

any comfirmation about Argentina squad,i didnt expect Messi will come but i want to watch them if player like Santander`s Garay and both Boca player come here

They are pulling out becoz of 'internal' problem in their league and their place been given to Chile.

malaysia lost 1-3 to ireland

This post has been edited by razlan: May 16 2008, 10:37 AM

its ok to lost 1-3 then lost 0-5 to uzbekistan

This post has been edited by MADReaLJL: May 16 2008, 10:44 AM

the first half goal..all can be avoided..careless defending..

yeah, already expect that anyway

i heard Adebayor play in this tour,is it right

Yes it's true. So Arsenal fans out there, go meet your star!

who else caught the whole match?the malaysian lads can pull off some pretty good passing moves but they severely lack composure in front of goal...and we were denied two clear penalties!haih dunno what the ref was thinking..that really changed the game.it was good to see them fighting to the bitter end though and getting a consolation goal in injury time.the spirit shown was at least something to shout about

yeah, agree with u.. its simply awesome watching our players keep trying to find the goal until the end

when Malaysian next game??vs Iraq right

Is Malaysia hosting all the matches?

yeah dude, glad to hear this from u...
watched the match and their training for the tourney since i'm having practical training under their physio.
have to tell u guys that they lads did train hard and they work as a team. although lost ytd but they put in a great performance apart from a few mistakes that cost the soft goals...
while watching, heard a lot of fans cursing and ranting bout the team......kinda disappointed me though...
replying to ur post,
wat i heard from coach Sathia in his training today.
"although we lost but we played well ytd, people will know that...
itu Media mungkin tak nampak, tapi penyokong semua bukan buta,mereka tahu, they will support the team.... "
no offence to others, but i really we as Malaysian will support the national team through thick and thin instead of cheer for the team at triumph but mengutuk when lost in game.
ytd i saw the boy who came to take photograph with the players and he was telling his dad that he wanna be like the players when he grows up....but ytd he was cursing and scolding like hell while watching the match....how ironic....

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Added on May 16, 2008, 7:43 pmtml 9pm at stadium MPPJ

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Added on May 16, 2008, 7:44 pmyes, all the games will be played at malaysia.
it's either cheras stadium or MPPJ stadium.

This post has been edited by pandazhun: May 16 2008, 07:44 PM

pandazhun,

i request you to do us the malaysian supporters, a big favour. go and tell sathia, to change that bloody goalkeeper (syed adney) and the veteran shukor adan.. i think the perak keeper is better than syed adney. and of course, all the football supporter know that helmi eliza of kedah is the best GK in malaysia, but why did sathia didnt chose him instead??

again, i really2 hope you can get that message to that sathia. thanks..

This post has been edited by presario9: May 16 2008, 07:50 PM

u sure bro? when will be his next game? i want to go n get his siggy!!

hahahahaha.. i have to agree with u bro, especially on Shukor Adan. What the heck is wrong with Sathia la? That Shukor guy plays like crap man. I was swearing like hell during the game when he had the ball! haha..

first round schedule: ICC 2008

go and meet the future and current stars



Images of the match between Malaysia and Ireland can be seen here: Malaysia vs Ireland Photo Gallery

haha, dude....
I have no comment over this....
but i do like Zamani ,he really played well...and professional...

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Added on May 16, 2008, 9:25 pmerr...heard that Adebayor will be coming on monday wor...
malaysian winger and full back played v well ma...

This post has been edited by pandazhun: May 16 2008, 09:25 PM

the bad about our team is the defence and the players IDEA.. they dont know what to do when they enter the opponent's half.. so I hope they'll improve for tonight's game..
I HaTe shukor since 4ever.. he dont have the quality to be the team captain..

Syed Adney is good when going punching the ball but really bad to even deflect the ball... nasrail is better..

For the Merdeka and AFF Helmi Eliza should be the one...

Khyrill Muhymeen should be given more time with the ball...