AFF Cup 2018: Malaysia, a worthy opponent for the Vietnamese national team.

In fact, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia have also made some progress recently, but in terms of squad strength, Malaysia is still superior and a tougher opponent. It's no coincidence that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has set a target of at least reaching the semi-finals of the AFF Cup, even though they are rejuvenating their squad.

In 2018, the country's football team also achieved success in the U23 Asian Championship and the recent ASIAD in Indonesia, but their achievements were not on par with the Vietnamese youth teams. The Malaysian Olympic team also made an impression at ASIAD 18, defeating the South Korean Olympic team in the group stage and narrowly losing to the Japanese Olympic team in the round of 16.

Change the coach before the match.

Malaysian football is no longer a "two-in-one" team. Coach Ong Kim Swee has returned to the youth teams to aim for the 2020 Olympics, while the national team has been handed over to new coach Tan Cheng Hoe. Although he has only recently taken on the role of head coach of the national team, he is no stranger to the team.

Tan Chang Hoe served as an assistant coach to K. Rajagopal from 2004 to 2013, and together they achieved notable successes with the Malaysian national team, including a gold medal at the 2009 SEA Games and the AFF Cup championship the following year. He continued as an assistant to Nelo Vingada in the Malaysian national team, and officially became head coach after Vingada resigned.

Tan made his home debut as head coach with a 2-2 draw against Mongolia. In the remaining matches, Tan's team thrashed Bhutan 7-0 and then won 1-0 against Fiji, 3-1 against Cambodia in Keisuke Honda's first match as coach, and 4-1 against Sri Lanka.

Sumareh (left) is the first naturalized player to be called up to the Malaysian national team. Photo: FourFourTwo.

Earlier this year, FAM had intended to call up naturalized players to the national team to increase its competitiveness in regional and continental tournaments. This intention was intensified by FAM after the World Cup in Russia, when they witnessed the French team, with many players of African origin, winning the championship.

However, this intention was strongly opposed by public opinion and by the Minister of Sports, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who argued that FAM had failed in its duty (player training) by considering calling up foreign players to the national team. He stated that the Malaysian national team had never previously called up any naturalized players, so why should they change their approach for the sake of achieving better results?

However, FAM recently gave coach Tan Cheng Hoe the "green light" to call up Gambian-born player Mohamadou Sumareh to the national team. Mohamadou Sumareh, 27, is a key player for Pahang FC in the Malaysian National League. He recently obtained Malaysian citizenship in March of this year.

6 new recruits, 9 U23 national team players.

If he meets the professional requirements, there's a 99% chance Mohamadou Sumareh will participate in the AFF Cup because the Malaysian national team currently needs an attacking player with speed, technique, and a keen goal-scoring ability like him. In fact, nine players in the Malaysian squad are from the U23 Malaysian team, which performed well at the 2018 Asian Games, reaching the round of 16 in the men's football tournament. However, they lack a center forward who can run and hold up the ball like Anh Duc of Vietnam, and Sumareh is a necessary addition.

The Malaysian national team is the champion of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. Photo: FourFourTwo.

This shows that FAM is doing everything possible to select the best players in preparation for the 2018 AFF Cup. Recently, the list of 24 Malaysian players called up has been announced. In addition to Sumareh, there are 5 more players who have been called up to the national team for the first time: Matthew Davies (Pahang FC); goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli, Syamer Kutty Abba (Johor Darul Ta'zim); Kenny Pallraj and Nor Hakim Hassan (Perak).

At the 2018 AFF Cup, coach Tan Cheng Hoe's team was drawn into Group A with opponents such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, and had what was considered a favorable schedule. Accordingly, the Malaysian team would play their opening match against Cambodia on November 8th, followed by Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar in order of increasing difficulty.

We hope that, with the advantage of playing at home, Coach Park will devise a suitable strategy to secure a victory against his counterpart, Coach Tan Cheng Hoe.