Coach Hoang Anh Tuan: "Malaysian naturalized players have not reached superstar status"

(Dan Tri) - Coach Hoang Anh Tuan assessed that the Malaysian team has changed after having more naturalized players. However, according to him, the Vietnamese team still has a chance to win at Bukit Jalil at 8pm tonight (June 10).

Recently, the news that the Malaysian national team has more naturalized players has attracted the attention of fans across Southeast Asia. Many of these naturalized players have an estimated value in the transfer market of up to millions of euros.

Former coach of the Vietnam U23 team, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, assessed that the Malaysian team will have big changes in the upcoming match at Bukit Jalil Stadium at 8pm tonight (June 10, Vietnam time). However, whether Malaysia is strong enough to defeat the Vietnamese team or not is another matter.

The Vietnamese team still has its own strengths that can help us defeat the team nicknamed Harimau Malaya. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan answered an interview with Dan Tri reporter about the above points.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

Malaysia is stronger, but Vietnam team has a chance to win

What do you think about Malaysia's new naturalized players? Will they have a radical change after having these players?

- I think change, especially immediate change in the technical capacity of a team, is very difficult. This change is unlikely to happen in just a moment.

Of course, the new naturalized players of Malaysia will be better than the domestic players of this football country. The new players must be better for them to join. Naturalizing foreign players in the Malaysian team can create motivation for this team, at least in terms of spirit.

However, we need to calmly acknowledge that Malaysia's naturalized players are not yet at the level of world football superstars, so they are not the type of players who can easily play well anywhere they go. They need time to integrate.

Could you elaborate on this point, sir?

- We can take the example of the Indonesian team, which also has many naturalized players like Malaysia.

The Vietnamese team under coach Kim Sang Sik is a unified bloc (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

To reach the current stability, the Indonesian team had to go through a long period of time for the naturalized players to get used to and integrate into the football of the archipelago country. Indonesia had to go through a difficult time to get the naturalized players into orbit. It took them time to stabilize their playing style.

Therefore, even if the naturalized Malaysian players are of good quality, they still need time to integrate, they need time to adapt to Malaysian football.

Coach Kim Sang Sik's students need to be confident.

Facing such an opponent, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Vietnamese team when facing Malaysia in the match taking place tonight?

- Regarding the disadvantages, it cannot be denied that we have very little information about the new players of the Malaysian team. We have hardly seen them play on the field, and do not know their habits, so it will be difficult to grasp and control these players.

Furthermore, we are preparing to play a single decisive match with Malaysia, not a long tournament, spanning many different matches.

The difference between playing a single match in a duel style and playing a tournament over 5-7 matches is that we have not had time to study the opponent through their previous matches during the tournament. The difficulty here is to play, read the opponent and adjust at the same time.

What is the advantage of the Vietnamese team over the Malaysian team at the moment, sir?

- First, I affirm that the players of the Vietnamese team are better than the domestic players of Malaysia. The Vietnamese team is very even, we do not lack talent in all lines. That is the detail that we should be confident about.

The Vietnamese team prepares a plan to confront Malaysia (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

Next, the Vietnamese players know each other very well, thanks to playing together regularly over many years and in many international tournaments. Coach Kim Sang Sik also knows the players he has. This is a detail that, as I said, the Malaysian team does not have at the moment. We have a chance to beat our opponents.

Understanding each other and playing style are very important details. For example, Japanese players, even though they travel all over the world to play for different clubs, when they gather back in the national team, it doesn't take them much time to get to know each other again, it doesn't take them much time to fit into the overall team machine.

The reason is that Japanese players are trained in a uniform style from a young age, and that style of play has permeated their personality. This is a factor that gives Vietnamese players an advantage, compared to the naturalized players of Malaysia.

Vietnam team will have the best solution

What about the playing style of the Vietnamese team? It is likely that we will have to play differently from the AFF Cup 2024, because at this time we are missing striker Nguyen?

- In this regard, I have a different opinion. That is, the playing style of the Vietnamese team is very stable. Xuan Son is a character who materializes the opportunities created by the Vietnamese team very well. He does this better than others currently present in the Vietnamese team, but the Vietnamese team does not build a playing style around Xuan Son.

Coach Kim Sang Sik will have suitable personnel plans (Photo: Nam Anh).

Coach Kim Sang Sik also does not build a style of play around any star, like Portugal builds a style of play around Ronaldo or Argentina builds a style of play around Messi. He always has a variety of different personnel options to use when necessary.

Coach Kim Sang Sik is a man who has ideas and knows how to execute those ideas. As for the specific personnel to be arranged in different positions, it will depend on the nature of each match and on each opponent. In this regard, the Korean coach will have calculations.

Another issue that is being concerned about in the Vietnam national team is whether goalkeeper Nguyen Filip will have an official place in the competition or not, after this goalkeeper has played very well recently?

- First, I affirm that Nguyen Filip is a very good goalkeeper, this goalkeeper is almost not weak in any aspect. He has good reflexes, has a very good stature (1m92 tall), plays the ball well with his feet, and is good at controlling the 16m50 area...

However, each coach and each expert has their own perspective and point of view. Choosing a goalkeeper or any other position on the field depends on many other factors. The head coach is the one who follows the team the most closely and spends the most time with the team, so he is the one who makes the best choice, based on his point of view.

In fact, most professional coaches, when calling up a team list, sketch out the official lineup in their heads. They sketch out in their heads what the team structure will be, and the personnel called up to the list are not cases of hasty, thoughtless calls.

Therefore, we need to respect the coaches' views. Any position when placed in the team, is also to maintain the overall stability of the whole system. We may only look at an individual, but the head coach looks at the whole system, the whole team, in the direction of helping that team to be the best, towards victory!

Thank you for the conversation!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-hoang-anh-tuan-cau-thu-nhap-tich-malaysia-chua-dat-tam-co-sieu-sao-20250609230620376.htm