'Wizard' Rajagobal: 'Vietnam team must be wary of Malaysia'

Vietnam team is about to have an important match with Malaysia. Photo: Anh Tien .

Rajagobal is a familiar coach to Southeast Asian football fans. He led the Malaysian U23 team to win the 2009 SEA Games gold medal and helped the national team win the 2010 AFF Cup after defeating Vietnam under coach Henrique Calisto in the semi-finals.

Sharing with Tri Thuc - Znews , Coach Rajagobal highly appreciated the Vietnamese team, but at the same time believed that Malaysia could cause a surprise in the upcoming match in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10.

How to effectively naturalize players?

- Over-reliance on naturalized players can negatively affect the development of national teams, especially in Southeast Asia. What do you think about this?

- Using naturalized players to strengthen the national team is inevitable. However, we need to be careful and clearly determine whether this is a short-term, medium-term or long-term solution.

- How to balance between using naturalized players and domestic players?

- It depends on the coach's philosophy when they are given the power to select players. If I were the head coach and invited by Vietnam, what would my priorities be? What players are available? What tournament are we playing in? Asian qualifiers or the World Cup? And maybe the Federation wants to have a quick impact, immediate effect.

In addition to local and naturalized players, we also have players with foreign roots who play abroad. They are those whose father or mother is married to a foreigner. Therefore, during the selection process, we can bring these players back to try out.

To build a balanced squad, you need a mix of the above groups of players. If a team wants to compete at the highest level, you need quality and experienced players.

Mr. Rajagobal is nicknamed "The Wizard" of Malaysian football.

- Do you support the use of naturalized players in your team?

- I support welcoming players with roots, with family connections to their native country. If they are qualified, you can call them up for a trial. No one can stop that. Because they have privileges.

If I am a Vietnamese living abroad, I marry a foreigner, the origin factor still exists. But if you call up too many players who have no origin connection to the country, it will slow down the progress of the native players.

We need to develop local players. This is important because a team needs to nurture the desire and motivation of local players to contribute to the country.

Without Xuan Son, Vietnam is still formidable

- During your career, you have faced the Vietnamese team many times. So which Vietnamese player impressed you the most?

- That's Le Cong Vinh, he used to play in Portugal. There's also Phan Thanh Binh and Mai Tien Thanh. These players are all very talented. You have a very strong midfield, good strikers, and fast wingers.

At present, after winning the 2024 ASEAN Cup, you also have some good players, including striker Nguyen Xuan Son.

- Malaysia is preparing to face Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers. What do you think about this match?

- In theory, Vietnam seems to be rated higher. But under new coach Peter Cklamovski, the Malaysian players have also improved. We also have many good players. I think this match will be difficult for Malaysia. However, the team is showing positive signs.

When playing at home, I think Malaysia will be very strong. Vietnam will have to be wary of Malaysia. Of course, everything depends on both coaches, how they plan the game, come up with tactics and the players' ability to maintain discipline during the match.

Malaysia is confident before the confrontation with Vietnam. Photo: FAM.

- So what does the Malaysian team need to do to defeat the Vietnamese team?

- It's hard for me to answer this question. Coach Cklamovski has many personnel options, he knows what's best. The coach must have watched how Vietnam played and planned for every situation.

If I were the national team coach, I would know which areas of the pitch we need to focus on, which players we need to keep close to, and how we should approach the game. Whether we choose to play high-intensity pressing or man-to-man, it depends on the coach's perspective.

- Xuan Son is injured and cannot play. Is this an advantage for the Malaysian team?

- Xuan Son stands out with his physical strength and ability to choose a good position in the penalty area. However, the remaining Vietnamese players are also very confident, I think the game will not be much different. Vietnam has other strikers, the coach also knows how to choose to attack. It is a team that plays very well together and is united.

- Some people say that now is the time of the Indonesian team. But they have not made a big difference when competing in Asia. In your opinion, what is the problem of Southeast Asian football at present?

- I think the problem is that we need to play more matches against the top Asian teams. Southeast Asian teams have less chance to face opponents like Iran, Saudi Arabia or Australia.

Also, we don't have many players playing in the top Asian leagues, most of them are still playing in the region. Look at how many Japanese and Korean players play abroad. This is why these countries are always far ahead of our region.

- Thank you for this conversation.

Close-up of the $50 million stadium of Southeast Asia's richest club JDT's Sultan Ibrahim Stadium is considered one of the most modern football stadiums in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Source: https://znews.vn/phu-thuy-rajagobal-tuyen-viet-nam-phai-de-chung-malaysia-post1556163.html