Unexpected discovery about U.23 Malaysia, far behind Vietnam in one extremely important thing

Of the 25 Malaysian players registered for the 33rd SEA Games, only 12 are members of clubs in the Malaysian national championship. This number is far less than the number of U.23 Vietnam players playing in the V-League.

U.23 Malaysia lacks professional experience

Specifically, 12 Malaysian U.23 players are competing in the Malaysia Super League (Malaysian national championship), including goalkeeper Adib Haikal (Negeri Sembilan Club), defender Aiman ​​Hakimi (Selangor), Moses Raj (Selangor), Ubaidullah Shansul (Terengganu), midfielder Akmal Hakim (Kedah FA), Haykal Danish (Selangor), Kutty Abba (Penang), Muhammad Khalil (Selangor), striker Rahman Daud (Selangor), Aliff Izwan (Selangor), Fergus Tierney (Sabah) and Haqimi Azim (Kuala Lumpur City).

U.23 Malaysia (yellow shirt) lacks professional competition experience

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

What is more remarkable is that only 5 of them have ever played in the Malaysian national championship, including Ubaidullah Shansul, Muhammad Khalil, Aliff Izwan, Fergus Tierney and Haqimi Azim. The rest have only been promoted to the professional teams of the above-mentioned clubs, but have never played in a match. Midfielder Muhammad Khalil has only played one match for Selangor FC in 2025, until he was called up to the Malaysian U.23 team a few days ago.

The above mentioned parameters of the U.23 Malaysia squad are far behind the U.23 Vietnam squad. 28/28 players on the list of U.23 Vietnam preparing for SEA Games 33 belong to clubs in the V-League. Many of the positions are pillars of the clubs they are playing for, such as goalkeepers Tran Trung Kien (HAGL), Cao Van Binh (SLNA), defenders Nguyen Hieu Minh, Vo Anh Quan (PVF-CAND), Dinh Quang Kiet (HAGL), midfielders Nguyen Thai Son (Thanh Hoa), Nguyen Xuan Bac (PVF-CAND), Le Viktor (Ha Tinh), Khuat Van Khang (The Cong Viettel ), strikers Bui Vi Hao (Becamex TP.HCM), Nguyen Dinh Bac (Hanoi Police Club), Nguyen Thanh Nhan (PVF-CAND).

Question about combat ability?

This detail reflects that, in terms of professional competition experience, the U.23 Vietnam players are far superior to the U.23 Malaysia players. Experience often comes with courage and cunning, once the U.23 Vietnam players have more regular professional competition, they will also be superior to the U.23 Malaysia players of the same age in terms of combat ability.

U.23 Malaysia lacks international achievements in recent years

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

This is also something that the Malaysian football community has often talked about in recent times. The scandal of 7 naturalized Malaysian players using fake profiles to play for the national team has exposed the reality that the youth training of this country's football is very weak. The strength of Malaysian teams, from the national team level to the club level, for many years now has had to rely almost entirely on naturalized players, while the quality of their domestic players, especially their young players, is quite weak.

At the 33rd SEA Games taking place in December this year, U.23 Malaysia is in Group B with U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos. Malaysia will have their first match on December 7, against U.23 Laos. Then, on December 11, U.23 Malaysia will face U.23 Vietnam.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phat-hien-bat-ngo-ve-u23-malaysia-kem-xa-viet-nam-mot-dieu-cuc-quan-trong-185251124143838506.htm