In the men's football event at the SEA Games, U22 Malaysia is in the same group with U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos in Group B. This group will be played in Songkhla province (Thailand).
After announcing the list of players for the SEA Games yesterday (November 21), coach Nafuzi Zain of Malaysia U22 said confidently: “Our plan is to start preparing through a training session together at the end of November. We hope to be able to assemble the best squad to represent the country at this year’s SEA Games.”
U22 Malaysia (yellow shirt) wants to defeat U22 Vietnam at SEA Games 33 (Photo: FAM).
“U22 Malaysia has set the first goal to defeat the main opponent in the group, U22 Vietnam, to get a ticket to the semi-finals. After reaching the semi-finals, we will focus on the final match of the men's football event,” added coach Nafuzi Zain.
The reason U22 Malaysia wants to compete for the top spot in Group B with U22 Vietnam is because the top team in Group B will most likely avoid the top team in Group A (most likely U22 Thailand) and the top team in Group C (most likely U22 Indonesia).
Instead, the top team of Group B will meet the second team of Group A (possibly U22 Cambodia) or the second team of Group C (which will be a competition between U22 Philippines, Singapore and Myanmar) in the semi-finals. With this semi-final match, the chance for the top team of Group B to reach the final will be higher.
Notably, in the last 5 meetings, U22 Malaysia lost to U22 Vietnam all 5 times. Specifically, in the group stage of the 2024 AFC U23 Championship, Malaysia lost to U22 Vietnam under the leadership of coach Hoang Anh Tuan with a score of 0-2.
U22 Malaysia will gather from the end of this month (Photo: Metro)
At the Southeast Asian U23 tournament in August 2023, Malaysia lost to U22 Vietnam, also coached by Hoang Anh Tuan, with a heavy score of 1-4 in the semi-final.
Three months earlier, U22 Malaysia lost 1-2 to U22 Vietnam in the group stage of the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, in Cambodia. At that time, U22 Vietnam was led by coach Troussier (French).
In the group stage of the 2022 AFC U23 Championship, Malaysia lost 0-2 to U22 Vietnam, under coach Gong Oh Kyun (Korean).
Also in 2022, the young Malaysian team lost 0-1 to the Vietnamese team of the same age in the semi-finals of SEA Games 31. At that time, the leader of U22 Vietnam was Coach Park Hang Seo (Korean).
That is the reason why U22 Malaysia is now even more eager to defeat U22 Vietnam, especially in the context that their national team is at risk of losing to the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, for using naturalized players in violation of regulations.
Men's football matches at SEA Games 33 (Photo: AFF).
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-u22-malaysia-tuyen-bo-cung-ran-muon-vuot-qua-u22-viet-nam-o-sea-games-20251122140825307.htm
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