Malaysia has 'reinforcements' to fight U.23 Vietnam, Coach Nafuzi Zain makes a surprising move

According to New Straits Times, coach Nafuzi Zain has quietly and successfully persuaded the clubs to release their players so that the U.23 Malaysia team can have the best squad before the decisive match with U.23 Vietnam at 4:00 p.m. on December 11.

U.23 Malaysia no longer has a shortage of soldiers, U.23 Vietnam must make maximum effort

After captain defender Ubaidullah Shamsul secretly arrived in Bangkok on December 7 and joined his teammates, U.23 Malaysia has just welcomed goalkeeper Haziq Mukhriz to join the training camp. In addition, Selangor FC striker Aliff Izwan Yuslan is likely to join Harimau Muda right before the match with U.23 Vietnam.

U.23 Malaysia is creating a smokescreen to make U.23 Vietnam complacent. They still have enough strong forces in hand.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

Aliff Izwan has been accepted by Selangor FC coach Christophe Gamel to join the U.23 Malaysia team at SEA Games 33, but on the condition that the player must participate in the club's match against Lion City Sailors FC (7:15 p.m. on November 10, at AFC Champions League 2).

The reason is that Selangor FC is suffering from injury storm, there are not many reserve players to replace when needed. They have also sent 5 players to the U.23 Malaysia training camp. Therefore, it was only after the match against Lion City Sailors FC that Aliff Izwan was allowed to fly to Bangkok to join the U.23 Malaysia team, but it is still uncertain whether he will be able to play at 4pm on December 11 when the home team meets U.23 Vietnam.

The presence of Aliff Izwan will certainly give U.23 Malaysia more strength before the decisive match of Group B for the first place in the semi-finals. In this match, U.23 Malaysia only needs a draw to take the top spot, when they currently have 3 points like U.23 Vietnam, but are ranked higher thanks to a better goal difference of +3 compared to +1.

U.23 Malaysia is currently only worried about the mental health of winger Haqimi Azim Rosli, after receiving bad news from his family that his stepfather suffered a stroke and is currently in critical condition.

However, Haqimi Azim still expressed his determination to stay in Bangkok with U.23 Malaysia to play the decisive match against U.23 Vietnam, and hoped that his stepfather would overcome the danger.

According to New Straits Times , U.23 Malaysia is in high spirits after the 4-1 victory over U.23 Laos on December 6 and has a great chance of winning the group and entering the semi-finals.

Harimau Muda, currently only missing striker Fergus Tierney, will play if the team reaches the semi-finals. They will certainly put all their strength into the match against U.23 Vietnam to win and top the group. Thereby, in the semi-finals they will avoid meeting the host team U.23 Thailand (almost certainly will be the top team in Group A, only to meet the weaker U.23 Singapore, at 7pm on December 11).

According to the regulations of the men's football SEA Games 33, if U.23 Thailand (host) wins Group A, they will be given priority to meet the second-place team with the best record in the semi-finals and will play at 8:00 p.m.; the remaining semi-final will be between the first team of Group B and the first team of Group C, playing at 3:30 p.m. on the same day, December 15.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/malaysia-co-vien-binh-quyet-dau-u23-viet-nam-hlv-nafuzi-zain-hanh-dong-bat-ngo-185251209084933991.htm