Malaysian expert gives frank comments about home team compared to U22 Vietnam

In the men's football event of the 33rd SEA Games, U22 Malaysia is in the same group with U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos. Only the top three teams of the three groups and the second-placed team with the best results will qualify for the semi-finals.

Chuyên gia Malaysia nhận xét thẳng thắn về đội nhà so với U22 Việt Nam - 1 — U22 Vietnam is worried when facing U22 Vietnam (Photo: Tien Tuan).

Ahead of the tournament, expert Datuk Jamil Nasir was pessimistic about the possibility of success of U22 Malaysia. He admitted that the unconvincing performance of U23 Malaysia in the U23 Southeast Asia and U23 Asian qualifiers did not bring much hope ahead of the SEA Games.

The Malaysian football legend said: “At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, U22 Malaysia did not even make it past the group stage. I think the team will repeat this scenario at the 33rd SEA Games.

I am very worried about U22 Malaysia when facing U22 Vietnam. They are a very high-quality team, and U22 Malaysia is often not highly rated for its strength due to disappointing performances in recent tournaments."

Expert Jamil also questioned the preparations of U22 Malaysia, especially the fact that the team did not take advantage of the training period in the FIFA schedule from November 10 to November 18.

He added: “After the two Southeast Asian U23 tournaments and the Asian U23 qualifiers, Malaysia U22 did not go abroad to play friendly matches to gain experience and find ways to overcome weaknesses. Everyone is in the dark about Coach Nafuzi’s plans because there was no press conference. We only know what the team did when they appeared in the recent tournaments.

The players were only called to the training camp on November 25, which is too late compared to other opponents. But that is the plan of the U22 Malaysia coaching staff. This is difficult to reassure the fans.

Chuyên gia Malaysia nhận xét thẳng thắn về đội nhà so với U22 Việt Nam - 2 — Vietnam U22 won the Southeast Asian U23 Championship three times in a row (Photo: Manh Quan).

Mr. Jamil said that U22 Malaysia needs to prove themselves in the context of being doubted: "If people say U22 Malaysia will have difficulty entering the semi-finals, then they should prove the opposite. Let's fight with all our might."

The last time Malaysia won a SEA Games gold medal was in 2011 in Jakarta (Indonesia). In recent years, Malaysia has always been doubted when entering tournaments at the youth level.

Meanwhile, U22 Malaysia striker Haqimi Azim Rosli admitted that U22 Vietnam is a strong opponent, but he also emphasized that the team must not be subjective against Laos. Haqimi said: “U22 Vietnam is very good. They have won a ticket to the U23 Asian Cup. The Vietnamese team is also the champion of the AFF Cup 2024. But we focus first on the opening match against U22 Laos.”