Merdeka Tournament 2008 will kicks off tomorrow. For national football coach, B. Sathianathan and his boys, it will be more than just protecting the title.

For last year Merdeka Tournament B. Sathianathan steered the national squad to lift the Merdeka Cup after a 14-year drought. Malaysia who last won the cup in 1993, beat Myanmar 3-1 in the final last year to end a 14-year wait for silverware. He said apart from defending the title, he and his boys would have two additional vital responsibilities to achieve during the tournament.

"Winning the cup is our top priority but equally important are preparations for the Asean Football Federation championship (AFF-Suzuki Cup) in December and also to see an improvement in the FIFA world ranking,"

He further that though there was not much depth in the quality of the teams challenging in the tournament this year, he would not take too lightly any of the seven other teams chip in.

"I have told the boys to give their best in every match, regardless of the opponent, as we do not want to be complacent,"

Malaysia who start Group A, has African challenger Sierra Leone, Nepal and Afghanistan for business while Group B is made up of Mozambique, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Malaysia are now ranked 160 in the FIFA record while Sierra Leone, ranked 133rd are probable to be Malaysia's main foe in the group, while Nepal (175) and Afghanistan (182) are not predictable to be much of a danger.

In Group B, Mozambique, ranked 100th, the top ranked team in the competition, are predictable to make it through to the semi-finals while Myanmar (157), and Vietnam (165) would supply the test for them since minnows Bangladesh (179) cannot be seen as a title contender.

"When our ranking dropped to 167, there was a lot of criticism but when we managed to improve on it, nobody speaks about it," he lamented.

For the record, on August 1993, Malaysia were in 75th position on the FIFA world rankings that consist of 199 countries, but dived to 170th position in April this year, the worst ever drop for Malaysian football.

Meanwhile, Malaysia are now ranked 29th in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rankings, compared with Thailand (16), Singapore (20), Indonesia (21) and Myanmar in 27th spot.

The AFC comprises of 46 member countries.