To prepare for their opening match of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Nepal on March 25th, coach Peter Cklamovski has called up two naturalized players, Hector Hevel and Gabriel Palmero, to the Malaysian national team.
Malaysia is considered Vietnam's biggest rival in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
These are also the two newest naturalized players to be called up to the Malaysian national team.
Midfielder Hector Hevel was born in the Netherlands and currently plays for Portimoense, a second-division Portuguese club. This season he has made six appearances for the Portuguese team.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Palmero is of Spanish descent. The 23-year-old left-back plays for CD Tenerife B, a fourth-division club in Spain.
According to player Syamer Kutty Abba, Hector Hevel and Gabriel Palmero both possess good skills and promise to strengthen the Malaysian national team.
Previously, Malaysian media reported that the country's Football Federation was planning to naturalize a number of players in preparation for major tournaments in the future.
But so far, this plan is progressing quite slowly.
In the final qualifying round for the 2027 Asian Cup, the yellow and black team is in a group that includes Vietnam, Nepal, and Laos.
In this group, Vietnam is Malaysia's biggest rival. Meanwhile, Laos and Nepal are considered much weaker opponents.
But at the moment, Malaysia is not playing well, and their elimination from the group stage of the 2024 AFF Cup is proof of that.
Therefore, many believe that Malaysia has little hope of competing with Vietnam for a spot in the 2027 Asian Cup finals.
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