Malaysia determined to beat Vietnam with naturalized players
(Baonghean.vn) - Recently, Stuart Ramalingam, General Secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), personally announced: "Liridon Krasniqi, a Kosovo player, will now be a Malaysian citizen under the Player Naturalization Law for the purpose of playing for the national team."
The President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Datuk Haji Hamidin Haji Mohd Amin, is the one who came up with the idea of inviting naturalized players to join the national team. After the AFF Cup 2018, Gambian winger Mohamadou Sumareh played quite successfully.
Starting from Sumareh
So far, after 14 appearances for the Malaysian national team, Sumareh has scored 4 goals, all of which were scored in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. In addition to his brace against Indonesia, Mohamadou Sumareh also scored 1 goal against Thailand and the remaining goal against East Timor.
Next, coach Tan Cheng-Hoe also called up 3 more players with dual nationality to the Malaysian team. They are right-back Matthew Davies (24 years old, 1m79 tall, Australian), left-back La'Vere Corbin-Ong (28 years old, 1m84 tall, British) and midfielder Brendan Gan (31 years old, 1m80, Australian).
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| After 14 appearances for the Malaysian national team, Sumareh has scored 4 goals. Photo: FAM |
Seemingly not satisfied, FAM continued to naturalize 3 more naturalized players in order to race against time to be present in the match against the Vietnam team on March 31, 2020. Accordingly, FAM naturalized 3 players: Guilherme De Paula (Brazilian origin), Liridon Krasnniqi (Kosovo origin) and Lee Tuck (English midfielder of Terengganu FC).
Next is Liridon
Liridon has now received his Mykad certificate from the Nationality Registration Authority (JPN), Putrajaya under special circumstances. In the 2018/19 season, he played half a season for Melaka United SA, appearing in 6 matches and scoring 1 goal. Midfielder Liridon, 28, is currently playing for Johor Darul Ta'zim FC in the Malaysia Super League.
Standing at 1.88 m tall, the Kosovo-born player can play as a centre-back or midfielder and isTransfermarktvalued at 450,000 euros. Thus, Liridon is the second naturalized player of Malaysian football, after Mohamadou Sumareh, who has played against the Vietnamese team many times in the past.
To wear the Malaysian national team jersey, Liridon now only needs to submit his personal documents and wait for the final approval of the World Football Federation (FIFA). FAM hopes that everything will be completed before welcoming Park Hang-seo and his team, this is a match in which if they win, they will top Group G.
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| Liridon player at Malaysian citizenship ceremony. Photo: FAM |
Thus, in the decisive match for the top spot in Group G of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team will have to face 5, even 7 naturalized players and 2 nationalities of the Malaysian team. In the midfield, Hung Dung and Tuan Anh will have to fight hard against Malaysian midfielders Liridon and Brendan Gan.
We have seen how hard Van Hau struggled when facing Mohamadou Sumareh of Gambian origin, who is tall, aggressive and not afraid of collision. Things would be more difficult if the Malaysian team had 5-7 foreign players of Malaysian origin trained in England, Australia, Brazil, Kosovo, etc. These are all countries with much more developed football than Southeast Asian countries, so the level of naturalized and dual-nationality players is superior to the regional average.
If the Malaysian Football Federation is successful, many other Southeast Asian countries will follow this trend. Is it time for the VFF to consider and think about whether to let naturalized players like Hoang Vu Samson join the national team or not?
