AFF Cup 2018: Malaysia, a worthy opponent for Vietnam team

In fact, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have also made certain progress in recent times, but in terms of strength, Malaysia is still better and more difficult to play against. It is no coincidence that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) set a goal 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 had success in the U23 Asian tournament and the recent ASIAD in Indonesia, but their achievements were not as good as those of the Vietnamese youth teams. The Malaysian Olympic team also made their mark at the 18th ASIAD, when they defeated the Korean Olympic team in the group stage and only narrowly lost to the Japanese Olympic team in the round of 16.

Change generals before the battle

Malaysian football is no longer “2 in 1”, coach Ong Kim Swee returns to the youth teams to aim for the 2020 Olympics, the national team is handed over to new coach Tan Cheng Hoe. Although he has just taken on the title of head coach of the national team, he is no stranger to the team.

Tan Chang Hoe was an assistant to coach K. Rajagopal from 2004 to 2013, and together with the Malaysian team achieved remarkable achievements such as the 2009 SEA Games gold medal and the AFF Cup championship a year later. He continued to be an assistant to Nelo Vingada in the Malaysian team, and officially became the head coach after coach Vingada resigned.

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

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

At the beginning of the year, FAM intended to call up naturalized players to the national team to increase their competitiveness in regional and continental tournaments. This intention was promoted 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 the Minister of Sports, Mr. Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who said that FAM had not fulfilled its mission (training players) well, so they intended to call foreign players to the team. He said that the Malaysian team had never called up any naturalized players before, so why should it change because of the results?

However, FAM recently gave coach Tan Cheng Hoe the green light to call up Gambian player Mohamadou Sumareh to the national team. Mohamadou Sumareh, 27, is a mainstay of Pahang FC in the Malaysian National Championship. This player was naturalized as a Malaysian citizen in March this year.

6 rookies, 9 U23 players

If he meets the professional requirements, there is a 99% chance that Mohamadou Sumareh will participate in the AFF Cup because the Malaysian team is in dire need of an attacking player with speed, technique and sharp goal-scoring ability like this player. In fact, in the Malaysian squad, there are 9 players from the U23 Malaysia team, the team that just played well at the 2018 ASIAD when they participated in the round of 16 of men's football. However, they do not have a striker who can play as a wall like Anh Duc of Vietnam and Sumareh is a necessary addition.

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

This fact shows that FAM is trying to find the best players to prepare for the AFF Cup 2018. Recently, the list of 24 Malaysian players called up was announced. In addition to Sumareh, there are 5 more players called up for the first time including Matthew Davies (Pahang Club); goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli, Syamer Kutty Abba (Johor Darul Ta'zim); Kenny Pallraj and Nor Hakim Hassan (Perak).

At the AFF Cup 2018, coach Tan Cheng Hoe and his team are in Group A with opponents such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and have a favorable match schedule. Accordingly, the Malaysian team will have their opening match against Cambodia on November 8, followed by Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar in order of increasing difficulty.

We hope that "knowing yourself and knowing your enemy", with home field advantage, Mr. Park will have a reasonable strategy to win against his colleague, Coach Tan Cheng Hoe./.