Many key players are injured, but Malaysia still has ambitions to win the U23 Southeast Asian Championship

Nhiều trụ cột chấn thương, Malaysia vẫn tham vọng vô địch U23 Đông Nam Á - Ảnh 1. — Coach Nafuzi Zain aims for the first championship for U23 Malaysia - Photo: FAM

Ahead of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, Malaysia is facing a personnel problem with four key players injured. However, head coach Nafuzi Zain is still very confident in his team's ability to compete.

Mr. Nafuzi Zain said he has not yet finalized the official list of 23 players who will go to Indonesia to participate in the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

During the ongoing training camp in Kuala Lumpur, he revealed that the U23 Malaysia squad is still at 30 players. Currently, they are facing some injury problems and the coaching staff needs enough personnel to run the exercises.

"In the current situation, we still have 30 players. The team is short of strength due to four injured players," Nafuzi Zain shared on YouTube channel Harimau Malaya.

The 46-year-old tactician also expressed his relief that no further injuries had been reported following the latest friendly against Melaka FC. This was important as it allowed the coaching staff to continue with their plans, before narrowing down the squad to 23 players.

According to plan, U23 Malaysia will have the final practice match with Negeri Sembilan FC on July 11, before flying to Indonesia.

In the history of the U23 Southeast Asian Championships, Malaysia's achievements have been quite modest. After participating 4 times, their best achievement was only fourth place in 2005 and 2023.

Therefore, in this participation, the ambition of coach Nafuzi Zain's team is to win the championship for the first time.

In the preliminary list of 30 players of U23 Malaysia, most are young domestic players, with only two foreign-born players, Fergus Tierney and Ziad El Basheer.

At the 2025 U23 Southeast Asia, U23 Malaysia is in Group A with U23 Indonesia, U23 Philippines, U23 Brunei. U23 Vietnam is in Group B with U23 Laos and U23 Cambodia. Group C includes U23 Thailand, U23 Myanmar and U23 Timor Leste.

The 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship takes place from July 15 to 29 in Indonesia.