Sali, 27, will have plenty of motivation against an Australian team eyeing next week’s World Cup qualifier against Oman.

His Indonesian club Pelita Jaya are coached by Aussie Misha Radovic and owned by the wealthy Bakrie family, who are expected to be unveiled as the new owners of Brisbane Roar today.

A good performance tonight could put Sali in the shop window, with Roar an obvious destination given the link between the two clubs now.

He is a goalscoring phenomenon with 16 goals in 31 internationals proof that he’s more than just a marketable face.

During his club career in Malaysia, Sali scored 110 goals in 138 appearances for various clubs and after he moved to Pelita Jaya earlier this year, he added another seven goals in 13 appearances.

It’s resulted in last month’s trial with Malaysian-owned Cardiff City, who invited him back to help improve his game.

Sali has been dubbed the “David Beckham” of Malaysian football, and like the English superstar, his face is just about everywhere in Kuala Lumpur, which has a unique link with Australia.

Many Malaysian football fans fondly recall a small group of pioneering Aussies from the 1990s who came to Malaysia and added a green and gold gloss to the M-League.

Scott Ollerenshaw, Alan Davidson and Alistair Edwards all signed for various clubs in the 1990s along with Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic, who is still a favourite with Selangor FC fans.

These expat Aussies helped contribute to an exciting era in Malaysia and were hailed for their professionalism and good attitude to training and playing.

Aussie coach Ron Smith has also played his part, among others, after he enjoyed spells with Johor and Sabah.

Ollerenshaw, in particular, was revered by Sabah supporters after his extraordinary record of almost a goal a game in just over 100 appearances.

After a successful four year playing stint, his exploits earned him the nickname of the “Ginger Maradona”. The former St George player stayed on and now runs a successful junior development tournament called the Borneo Cup.

The former Qantas Socceroo – capped 14 times – closely follows the game in Malaysia and regularly appears a pundit on shows such as the FourFourTwo Football Show across Asia.

He believes Malaysia are building a side for the future. 

“They’ve got a very young team under a coach that has been in charge for the past two or three years and he’s gone with youth,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"And to be fair their performances in the national team have improved a lot which has launched a little more national pride

“As for as South-East Asia is concerned, they’re quite successful, having had two wins in the Suzuki Cup and South-East Asian Games in recent years. But unfortunately they were beaten in the recent World Cup qualifiers.

"They’ve still got a long way to go and it’ll be a stern test against a physically stronger Australian team.” 

However, while Australia continue on their “Road to Rio, Malaysians are out of the reckoning.

After just getting past Chinese Taipei in the first round of World Cup Asian qualifiers (winning 2-1 at home but losing 3-2 away), Malaysia were drawn with rivals Singapore in the second round qualifiers in a match both sets of fans were revved up to see.

Sadly for Malaysia, they were knocked out after a 6-4 aggregate loss (a 5-3 defeat and a 1-1 draw over the two legs).

*For a full preview of Malaysia plus features on Josh Kennedy, Alex Brosque, James Troisi and more, buy your copy of The Socceroo magazine tonight at the game in Canberra.