Malaysia becomes 'version 2.0' of... Indonesia, Vietnam team should not forget the bitter old lesson

Malaysia changes rapidly

Vietnam's 3 losses to Indonesia in late 2023 and early 2024 included 2 matches in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia (0-1 and 0-3) and 1 match in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup (0-1).

Coach Kim Sang-sik needs to carefully study Malaysia's naturalized players

Photo: VFF

At that time, the Indonesian team surprised the Vietnamese team after they naturalized a series of players of European origin. The team from the archipelago country completely transformed, they were much stronger than they were before.

At this time, the Malaysian team is following the path that Indonesia took at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Malaysia has also appeared many new naturalized players in recent days, right before they face the Vietnamese team in the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, taking place on June 10 at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Commenting on the Malaysian team, former VFF Vice President Duong Vu Lam said: "If we compare naturalized Malaysian players with naturalized Indonesian players, the naturalized Malaysian players are not as good. These players have not played in the top European championships like the naturalized Indonesian players. However, if we compare the naturalized players that were once in the Malaysian team, the new naturalized players are of better quality. Therefore, the Vietnamese team needs to be very careful."

Need tight formation

The Malaysian team has two naturalized players playing in South America, striker Rodrigo Holgado (America de Cali Club, Colombia) and Imanol Machuca (Vélez Sarsfield, Argentina), and three players playing in Europe, including left-back Gabriel Palmero (Tenerife Club B team, Spain), center-back Facundo Garces (Deportivo Alaves, Spain) and midfielder Hector Hevel (Portimonense, Portugal).

Malaysia's rival is different now

Photo: Ngoc Linh

These players can help the Malaysian team gain more experience, improve their technical skills, increase their cunning and become more combative in set-piece situations. These are things that the Vietnamese team needs to pay attention to.

In the matches against Indonesia in late 2023 and early 2024, the Vietnamese team lost because their cunning was not as good as the naturalized players of the Indonesian team. The opponent may play slowly for most of the match, but when they need to speed up, they speed up very quickly, before they hit the weak point of the Vietnamese team's lack of concentration at that time.

Hopefully, the Vietnamese team has learned a lesson from the above losses. At the same time, we hope that the squad built by coach Kim Sang-sik will help the Vietnamese team become stronger and more compact than the squad under coach Troussier. From there, we can better counter the naturalized players that the opponent currently possesses.