Revealing the most formidable opponent of U.23 Vietnam at SEA Games 33: Not Malaysia

Fate and debt brought the U.23 Vietnam team into the same group with U.23 Malaysia in the SEA Games men's football event. In the most recent Southeast Asian Games, Malaysian youth football was not our opponent.

U.23 Vietnam has absolute advantage over U.23 Malaysia

At the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia, the U.23 Vietnam team under coach Troussier beat U.23 Malaysia 2-1 in the group stage, eliminating this team from the game. At the 31st SEA Games in 2022 in Vietnam, coach Park Hang-seo's team then beat U.23 Malaysia in the semi-finals with a score of 1-0. Even at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, the U.23 Vietnam team at that time, despite receiving much criticism under coach Toshiya Miura (Japanese), still won a big victory over U.23 Malaysia 5-1 in the group stage.

U.23 Vietnam is a strong candidate for the championship at SEA Games 33

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

In general, at the most recent Southeast Asian Games , Malaysia's youth teams were no match for the Vietnam U23 team. If we count the Southeast Asian U23 tournaments, the losing streak of Malaysia U23 against Vietnam U23 is even longer. At this tournament in 2023, Vietnam U23 under coach Hoang Anh Tuan won a big 4-1 victory over Malaysia U23 in the semi-finals.

Between Vietnamese football and Malaysian football in the past 10 years, except for the time the Malaysian national team won the Vietnamese team 4-0 on June 10, in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian teams are not opponents of Vietnamese football. In the match on June 10 alone, the Malaysian team only won thanks to a group of naturalized players suspected of using fake profiles. Without those players, the Malaysian team would still be rated much lower than the Vietnamese team.

Great opportunity at SEA Games 33

At the U.23 level, Malaysian football does not use many naturalized players, so they are likely to be weaker than U.23 Vietnam at the SEA Games in December this year. Our remaining opponent in Group B is U.23 Laos, a representative of a weak football background. Therefore, the chance of passing the group stage for the team under coach Kim Sang-sik is very high.

U.23 Vietnam has an advantage over teams in the region

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

According to the regulations of the men's football event of the 33rd SEA Games, the group winners and the second-placed team with the best results will advance to the semi-finals. The U.23 Thailand (Group A) and U.23 Indonesia (Group C) teams are likely to lead the remaining groups. Meanwhile, the ticket for the second-placed team with the best results will be a competition between the teams of Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore (Group C) and Cambodia (Group A).

Among these teams, only the host U.23 Thailand is truly formidable, U.23 Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines and Cambodia have long been no match for U.23 Vietnam. U.23 Indonesia is similar to U.23 Malaysia in that they are only strong when they have many naturalized players, while at the age of 23, the source of naturalized players in the football of the archipelago country is still limited.

That is the reason why, as long as they can avoid U.23 Thailand in the semi-finals, the chance of U.23 Vietnam entering the final and competing for the gold medal will be very high. The team led by coach Kim Sang-sik is full of confidence, possesses a very balanced force, and has the desire to win all the most prestigious titles of Southeast Asian football (AFF Cup champion, U.23 regional champion, SEA Games champion). That will be the premise for U.23 Vietnam to reach success at this year's Southeast Asian Games.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lo-dien-doi-thu-dang-so-nhat-cua-u23-viet-nam-tai-sea-games-33-khong-phai-malaysia-185251020140806153.htm