Malaysia

Coming into the World Cup qualification, Malaysia had 42 year old Englishman Trevor Hartley as their manager. His CV contained a stint as manager for third division club AFC Bournemouth in 1974/75, while he had been assistant to Tottenham Hotspur manager David Pleat for the 1986/87 season, briefly working as an interim solution alongside Doug Livermore in the wake of Pleat’s dismissal and the arrival of Terry Venables. He had also worked for the Singaporan FA in the second half of the 70s. Whilst his title had officially been ‘Director of coaching’, he’d assisted their national team manager, and at the same time worked on youth development. 

Under their previous management team, Malaysia had failed to qualify for the 1988 AFC Asian Cup held in Qatar, and they obviously had no World Cup pedigree. They had twice, in 1976 and in 1980, qualified for the Asian Cup, and coming up against regional powerhouse South Korea in the World Cup qualification, this time around was hardly thought to see them progress past the first qualification group stage. 

They had played the following friendlies prior to the start of the World Cup qualification: 

28.01.1989: Thailand 1-0 Malaysia
Line-up: 

03.02.1989: Malaysia 3-1 Indonesia (in Bangkok, Thailand)
Goals: Ravindran, Silvarajoo 2
Line-up: 

27.03.1989: Qatar 1-0 Malaysia
Line-up: 

World Cup qualification

Match 1
23.05.1989: Malaysia 2-0 Nepal (in Seoul, South Korea)
Goals: Azizol, Salleh (pen.)
Line-up: Azmi, Singh, Siew Yai, Kin Hong, Mahmud Salim, Azizol Hanifah (Mat Din 80), Yusuf, Lim Teong, Ravindran, Salleh, Zainal

Match 2
25.05.1989: Malaysia 1-0 Singapore (in Seoul, South Korea)
Goal: Salleh
Line-up: Azmi, Singh, Siew Yai, Kin Hong, Mahmud Salim, Azizol Hanifah, Yusuf, Lim Teong, Ravindran, Salleh, Zainal

Match 3
27.05.1989: South Korea 3-0 Malaysia
Line-up (5-3-2): Azmi – Ravichandran, Kin Hong, Naina (sub Kim Seng 81), Siew Yai, Mahmud Salim – Lim Teong, Yusuf (c), Azizol Hanifah – Salleh, Ravindran (sub Zainal h-t)

Match 4
03.06.1989: Singapore 2-2 Malaysia
Goals: Teong, Salleh
Line-up: Sabri – Ravichandran, Kin Hong, Siew Yai (Singh), Mahmud Salim, Lim Teong, Yusuf, Azizol Hanifah (Annuar), Ravindran, Salleh, Zainal

Match 5
05.06.1989: Malaysia 0-3 South Korea (in Singapore)
Line-up: Azmi – Ravichandran, See Seng, Kin Hong, Singh, Mahmud Salim, Lim Teong, Yusuf, Azizol Hanifah (Balachandran), Salleh, Ravindran

Match 6
07.06.1989: Malaysia 3-0 Nepal (in Singapore)
Goals: Salleh 2, Gunalan
Line-up: Kam Choon – Rahim (Mat Din), Kin Hong, Singh, Salim, Lim Teong, Yusuf, Azizol Hanifah (Ravindran), Gunalan, Salleh, Zainal