FAM blames Singapore

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The Causeway Challenge was supposed to enhance the footballing relationship between traditional arch-rivals Singapore and Malaysia.

But the confusion over the cancellation of the two-legged challenge, originally scheduled for June 4 in Shah Alam and June 7 at the Jalan Besar Stadium, may well have the opposite effect.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) released a statement on Thursday announcing the cancellation of the challenge, saying the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had informed them on Wednesday (May 22) that their first and second national teams would be unavailable for the matches.

The FAM seems to have a different view.

The Malaysian national team manager Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal, who is also an FAM vice-president, told Malaysian media in a briefing on Tuesday: "We're expecting Singapore to revert within the next couple of days. We have an arrangement with them about the Causeway Challenge but they seem to have different priorities. We have done the ground work for Plan B and Plan C. We're just awaiting the update from FAS."

In response to The New Paper's queries on Datuk Subahan's comments, an FAS spokesman revealed: "As part of the preparation, we sent a letter to FAM on May 15 regarding the training and match requirements for the upcoming games.

"We have also written to AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to sanction the Causeway Challenge Cup, which was approved on May 17."

In a press release on Thursday, the FAM announced their schedule for a tour to Australia from June 3 to 15.

The Causeway Challenge would have been new national coach Bernd Stange's first matches in charge of the Singapore national team. The German will now test his charges against Myanmar in Yangon on June 4, and Laos in Vientiane on June 7.