Surely many Vietnamese fans felt hurt after the result at Bukit Jalil Stadium. Over the past 10 years, we have never experienced such a feeling of helplessness against a team in the same Southeast Asian region. However, we need to calmly look back at the nature of the problem to find a suitable solution for the "Golden Star Warriors" on the upcoming journey.
"European-American Malaysia" team
Knowing that Malaysia's naturalized foreign players have high transfer values (more than 15 million USD), not many Vietnamese and regional fans believe that they can play so well and outperform the 2024 ASEAN Cup champions.
Obviously, the defeat of the Vietnamese team against the host Malaysia came from the human factor. Naturalized players such as defender Corbin Ong, Dions Cool, Facundo Garves, midfielder Hector Havel, strikers Joao Figueiredo, Rodrigo Holgado... immediately helped to dramatically improve the quality of the "Harimau Tiger" squad.
Malaysia's naturalized foreign players
It was these names that made coach Kim Sang-sik's students run after them "out of breath" because their physical foundation and individual techniques were too different from the average physical condition of Southeast Asian players in general and Vietnam in particular. Coach Kim Sang-sik himself admitted after last night's match that he was surprised by the quality of the home team's naturalized players.
Therefore, it is not by chance that coach Peter Cklamovski once boldly declared that not only will he beat Vietnam, he also wants the Malaysian team to become a force at an even higher level.
Through the impressive debut of this "European-American squad", the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and head coach Peter Cklamovski have reason to continue to maintain the naturalization policy, in order to give wings to the "Malay Tigers" to pursue greater ambitions in future tournaments.
This is truly a challenge for regional rivals, including Thailand, the team that has dominated the AFF Cup with Vietnam for many years.
Don't rush into the "naturalization race"
As for the Vietnamese football team, despite losing heavily to the host Malaysia, we should not let this defeat cause us to panic. Last night's defeat actually had many reasons that are completely understandable to coach Kim Sang-sik and his team.
Because at the same time, the Malaysian opponent became stronger thanks to the effort to build a "European-American Malaysia" version, unfortunately for Mr. Kim Sang-sik, the "Golden Dragon" squad was seriously damaged. Nguyen Xuan Son has not recovered yet. Bui Vy Hao, Nguyen Van Toan, Ho Tan Tai, Doan Ngoc Tan... also suffered a series of injuries, causing the Vietnamese team's personnel to be disrupted.
Vietnam team lost 0-4 to Malaysia on the evening of June 10.
In addition, close to the match day, the tall central defender pair Bui Hoang Viet Anh and Thanh Binh also joined the "wounded" list. Cong Phuong, "Malaysia's nightmare" had to withdraw before he could leave because of persistent injuries. This significantly weakened the strength of the Vietnamese team.
Not only that, before the end of the first half, Nguyen Thanh Chung, an important position in the 3-man defensive system, was injured. Bui Tien Dung and Nguyen Van Vy were also at a disadvantage in the competition and their declining physical strength was also withdrawn, making the Vietnamese team's lineup even more disorganized.
In this confrontation at Bukit Jalil Stadium, it felt like most of the Vietnamese players were overwhelmed by "strange" opponents from developed football backgrounds. From mentality to physical strength, the Vietnamese players were not able to compete against the home team who were very energetic and strong in all three lines, so it was understandable that they were defeated.
After this defeat, many people are worried about the return match. Even though we are the home team, how can we deal with the increasingly fearsome Malaysian team when their naturalized players will play more harmoniously, smoothly and understand each other better?
Actually, from now until March 2026, we have 10 months to prepare. Right now, perhaps the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Mr. Kim Sang-sik should come up with a plan for the next rematch.
At that time, the Vietnamese team will have the return of Nguyen Xuan Son. The strikers Van Toan, Vy Hao and even Cong Phuong will also have the opportunity to recover, helping the Vietnamese team's attack to become significantly stronger.
The solution of naturalizing some foreign players who are playing well in the V-league and already have citizenship or finding more talented overseas Vietnamese players will also help coach Kim Sang-sik have more options to upgrade the strength of the "Golden Star warriors".
Malaysia is becoming more and more scary with its naturalized players.
Admittedly, Malaysia and Indonesia are showing an optimistic approach to the policy of naturalizing players. The recent results have given them confidence to continue moving forward with increasingly expensive personnel reinforcements, in order to achieve big goals. But for Vietnamese football, the idea of "imitating" massive naturalization like the way Malaysia and Indonesia have done is very difficult to apply.
Let's ask, one day, if the Vietnamese team takes the field with the same formula as Malaysia or Indonesia with "9 Westerners + 2 Vietnamese" on the field, how will the fans feel?
The way Malaysia and Indonesia do it is a race to "hunt" for human resources with constant "big money" investment from billionaires, which seems not suitable for Vietnamese football.
Do not let football be caught up in the endless race for naturalization, cutting corners just to seek local achievements. Surely the majority of Vietnamese fans do not support this approach.
To naturalize, Vietnam must have a source of good enough players, meeting FIFA regulations, from which to select those who have enough time to absorb Vietnamese culture, then they can integrate into the Vietnamese team. The case of Nguyen Xuan Son being called up to the national team, showing his ability and quickly integrating into the team is a typical example.
In addition, finding overseas Vietnamese players with Vietnamese roots such as Pendant Quang Vinh and Filip Nguyen to supplement and upgrade the quality of the team is an acceptable way.
From that reality, we should not change our approach because of a loss to the "European-American team" of Malaysia. Vietnam still has to develop football in a sustainable way, focus on youth training, apply nutritional science to improve the breed and physique of the young generation to gradually and patiently upgrade the domestic league system.
The success of Japanese and Korean football is always a lesson for us to reflect on.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-thua-dam-malaysia-dung-cuong-len-sau-mot-that-bai-19625061109054121.htm
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