The curse of losing the first match at the SEA Games haunts Malaysian football

According to coach Nafuzi Zain of Malaysia U.23, his team must overcome the curse of losing the first match in the last two SEA Games to have any hope of competing for a ticket to the semi-finals of men's football.

Why is U.23 Malaysia worried?

In an interview with Astro Arena journalist Fina Nasrom on December 1, coach Nafuzi Zain said that although the U.23 Malaysia team is determined to create a big surprise at the 33rd SEA Games, he is very worried because he will likely be without 7 important players in the opening match against the U.23 Laos team (at 4 p.m. on December 6). The reason is that the Super League clubs have not yet agreed to release players for the team while the tournaments are still taking place.

Coach Nafuzi Zain of the Malaysia U.23 team

PHOTO: AFP

"In the previous two tournaments, we had a lot of difficulties due to defeat in the first match. I think the first match is an important match to get 3 points, opening up the opportunity to enter the next round.

That is why we need the best players to handle the match against U.23 Laos in the best way, before playing the second match (against U.23 Vietnam at 4:00 p.m. on December 11). This is also important for us in terms of preparation, because in the two previous tournaments (U.23 Southeast Asia and U.23 Asia qualifiers), we did not encounter difficulties like now", Coach Nafuzi Zain expressed.

At the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship (July) and the U.23 Asian qualifiers (September), U.23 Malaysia lost both matches, 0-2 to U.23 Philippines and 0-1 to U.23 Lebanon, causing them to be eliminated in the group stage of both tournaments.

At the 33rd SEA Games, U.23 Malaysia was under a lot of pressure because of the "illegal" naturalization scandal and the club's refusal to release players, causing coach Nafuzi Zain's team to fall into a situation where the 25 players summoned were still not fully present.

The good news for coach Nafuzi Zain is that two important players, defender Ubaidullah Shamsul of Terengganu FC and striker Aliff Izwan (Selangor FC), have arrived. Meanwhile, striker Fergus Tierney of Sabah FC has not arrived yet, as the club has not agreed to release him because he still has to play in the final of the Malaysian FA Cup.

Coach Nafuzi Zain said he did not call other players to replace him because the players called up to play for clubs in the Super League are more experienced. Therefore, he still hopes that at some point, if a player has not played for a club, like Sabah FC's Fergus Tierney (who will not play in the final until December 14), he will be called up to the U.23 Malaysia team and play first against U.23 Laos.

The U.23 Indonesia team (red shirt) has called up the strongest possible squad for the 33rd SEA Games, including naturalized player and prodigy Marselino Ferdinan.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

As of December 2, U.23 Malaysia has not yet finalized the list of 23 players to compete in the 33rd SEA Games. Most likely, it will be closer to the departure date to Bangkok (Thailand), expected on December 4 or 5, that Coach Nafuzi Zain will finalize the list after negotiating with the clubs about whether the players will be included in the U.23 team or not.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/loi-nguyen-thua-tran-dau-tien-tai-sea-games-am-anh-bong-da-malaysia-185251202104048497.htm