U22 Malaysia "cries for help" before meeting U22 Vietnam at SEA Games

(Dan Tri) - Coach Nafuzi Zain of U22 Malaysia "called for help" before the 33rd SEA Games when he could not call up 7 players because the club refused to release them.

The entire U22 Malaysia team has entered the 7th day of training in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games. However, the preparation process of coach Nafuzi Zain and his team is facing a big challenge because the Malaysian national championship is still taking place, making it difficult to summon the optimal force.

U22 Malaysia faces difficulty in terms of personnel before the match against U22 Vietnam (Photo: FAM).

Coach Nafuzi confirmed that some important players will not be able to participate in the opening match against U22 Laos, especially those from Sabah, Penang and Terengganu clubs.

Meanwhile, a group of Selangor players have just been recalled to the club to fly to the Philippines to prepare for the Southeast Asia Cup C1 match against DH Cebu on December 3. Selangor Club is also not sure if they will release their players to U22 Malaysia to compete in the 33rd SEA Games after this match.

According to Malaysian press, coach Nafuzi had to "call for help" when the current squad of U22 Malaysia is mainly made up of players playing in the youth team, without much international experience.

The coach of U22 Malaysia shared: “Up to this point, we have not received approval to release players from Sabah, Penang and Terengganu clubs. At the same time, we are also waiting to see the current situation of Selangor.

Previously, two players, Aliff Izwan and Muhammad Abu Khalil, remained in Selangor. This morning (December 2), the club called two more players back to participate in the Southeast Asian C1 Cup. Thus, a total of 7 players from the whole team were not present in today's training session."

Coach Nafuzi is facing difficulties as clubs refuse to release players while the Malaysian national championship is taking place (Photo: FAM).

Coach Nafuzi also said he will monitor Selangor's squad after the match in the Southeast Asian Cup 1, to see how many players they will release to participate in the 33rd SEA Games.

U22 Malaysia will open the 33rd SEA Games with a match against U23 Laos on December 6, before facing U23 Vietnam 4 days later.

Before the tournament, U22 Malaysia faced countless difficulties. They were almost abandoned by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The reason was because FAM was busy pursuing the appeal with FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) so they could not pay attention to U22 Malaysia.

Therefore, Coach Nafuzi's team did not have any friendly matches before the SEA Games. Not only that, they also gathered late and did not have good training conditions. The whole team only gathered on November 25 and was expected to go to Thailand on December 5. Not to mention the flooding situation in Thailand that forced U22 Malaysia to constantly change their plans.

In that situation, Malaysian football expert Richard Scully affirmed that U22 Malaysia should not blame the clubs in the national championship for not releasing their players. He emphasized: “SEA Games is not a tournament under the FIFA competition system. Therefore, the clubs have no obligation to release their players.

Not only U22 Malaysia, other teams in the region are also facing the same situation. Some teams can summon good players because they can negotiate with the clubs.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u22-malaysia-keu-cuu-truoc-khi-gap-u22-viet-nam-o-sea-games-20251202115033955.htm