Malaysia National Team and "freak" Tan Cheng Hoe

To participate in the AFF Cup 2018, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) spent 80,000 USD/month to invite famous coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to lead the team, but in the end, they only won third place whileMalaysia has reached the final, it can be seen that coach Tan Cheng Hoe is winning the great affection of home fans.

Malaysian Brand

In early December last year, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) decided to appoint a local coach, Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe, as the head coach of the Malaysian national team. Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe, 50 years old, led Kedah FC to the 2016 Malaysia Cup championship and the 2017 Malaysia FA Cup. He was also an assistant to two previous head coaches of the Malaysian national team (K. Rajagobal and Nelo Vingada).

Coach Tan Cheng Hoe: "I will win the Cup right at My Dinh Stadium". Photo: Trung Kien

Half a year earlier, FAM had chosen coach Nelo Vingada, a Portuguese strategist, to take the “hot seat” at the national team. With a remarkable record of achievements, having led the U20 Portugal, the Olympic Portugal, the Saudi Arabian national team or FC Seoul... people expected that this 65-year-old coach would help the Malaysian team win a ticket to the 2019 Asian Cup.

However, FAM President Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim was soon disappointed when the Malaysian team only won 1 and lost 6 matches. In the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers alone, they lost 4 matches and only drew 1, being pushed to the bottom of Group B.

Because of his pride, coach Nelo Vingada proactively resigned. Immediately after that, FAM decided to promote assistant Tan Cheng Hoe to become head coach of “Harimau Malaya”. Over the past year, “genius” Tan has not changed much of Malaysia’s playing style. He inherited many of the English football styles of his coach K. Rajagobal, but changed them more.

Right after the group stage, had to face 2 "branded" coaches, Coach Milovan Rajevac andCoach Park Hang-seo, the Malaysian teacher, immediately used his right to help by “inviting relatives”. “Wizard” K. Rajagobal has worked with Southeast Asian football for many years, so he gave extremely accurate advice to the Malaysian team.

The fact that the host Thailand took the lead twice but Malaysia equalized twice, and recently when they conceded two goals in the first 25 minutes at Bukit Jalil Stadium in the capital Kuala Lumpur but the students of the "monster" still equalized, speaks volumes about the spirit of this team.

Take advantage of home field advantage

With the best defense in the AFF Cup 2018, and an offense with many scoring options like the Vietnamese team, Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe decided to choose a "hard-hitting" style of play in a calculated manner.

To cover Vietnam's right wing, the home side lost a player, Nazirul Naim left the field due to injury with a yellow card, the player who replaced him, Adam bin Nor Azlin, also continued to receive a card butSafawi Rasid, who received a booking in the semi-final, was not warned by referee Christopher Beath.

The score between Coach Park Hang-seo and Coach Tan Cheng Hoe is currently 1-0. Photo: AFF

When Akram Mahinan received a yellow card in the semi-finals, Syamer Kutty was asked to play higher, actively clashing (of course receiving a card) with captain Zaquan Adha at hot spots with aggressive "wave-making" moves.

Compared to the group stage match, the Malaysian players used more tricks to annoy Duy Manh, Ngoc Hai, and Van Hau. The elbows, knee-to-back attacks, and hanging balls for Sumareh to "use his body and crush him" were effective, but referee Christopher Beath only gave... 5 yellow cards (?!!).

Many people will be surprised, the Vietnamese defense was not shaken by the Philippines team with 6 players over 1.80m tall but had a lot of difficulty against the Malaysian players and conceded a goal to a central defender. The crosses from the Malaysian players were much more annoying!

Represents attacking football

MalaysiaUnder Tan Cheng Hoe, Malaysia did not only play with the 4-4-2 formation. When Syafiq Ahmad was brought in to replace defender Aznan, the home team switched to a 3-4-3 formation with three attackers Syafiq Ahmad, Akhyar Rashid, Zaquan Adha, of which striker Akhyar Rashid was only 19 years old. Malaysia's attacking power increased, forcing Mr. Park Hang-seo to quickly bring Hung Dung onto the field.

Midfielder Hung Dung entered the field when the score was already 2-0. Photo: TK

Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe and Mr. Park Hang-seo will have 3 clashes at AFF Cup 2018, the results after 2 matches: 1 win and 1 draw in favor of the Korean coach. They still have 1 rematch at My Dinh Stadium to decide who is the winner.

Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe represents the attacking style of play (Malaysia is the only team to enter the semi-finals with this style of play) while Mr. Park Hang-seo tends to play pragmatically. That is why the Vietnam - Malaysia clash is even more interesting and there is something to talk about this "monster"!