KUALA LUMPUR (March 20): Malaysia have the lowest world ranking among the current nine group leaders in the second round of the World Cup 2026 Asian zone qualifying competition.

The Kim Pan Gon-guided Harimau Malaya are leading Group D after two matches when they upset Kyrgyzstan 4-3 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil here and defeated Taiwan 1-0 in Taipei, with both matches played last year.