What are the most 'dangerous' cards in coach Tan Cheng Hoe's hands?
(Baonghean.vn) - With 4 goals after 2 matches, the Malaysian national team's attack line has almost stabilized with notable names.
In the shortlist, the Malaysian national team has 4 naturalized players including striker Mohamadou Sumareh (28 years old, of Gambian origin), right-back Matthew Davies (24 years old, of Australian origin), left-back La'Vere Corbin-Ong (28 years old, of British origin) and midfielder Brendan Gan (31 years old, of Australian origin).
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| Sumareh has not yet fully recovered from his injury. Photo: Trung Kien |
Mohamadou Sumareh is not too unfamiliar to Vietnamese football fans because of his aggressive, physical but equally effective playing style in the black and yellow shirt. In the first match of Group G of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, this striker also scored a double against Indonesia.
However, in the confrontations with the Vietnam National Team from the group stage to the final of the AFF Cup 2018, Sumareh did not show much and the simple reason is that the person assigned by coach Park Hang-seo to "pocket" this player is named: Trong Hoang. The fact that he has not fully recovered from his injury also makes the opportunity for this player to play in the match with the Vietnam National Team still open.
Three names have scored against the Vietnamese team in recent Southeast Asian football tournaments, including attacking midfielder Safawi Rasid (scored in the first leg of the 2018 AFF Cup final), striker Idlan Talaha (scored in the 2014 AFF Cup) and central defender Shahrul Saad, also on the list and all three players played in the match against Indonesia in the first match and UAE in the second match.
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| Veteran Talaha has always been a notable name in Malaysia's attack despite being over 33 years old. Photo: AFC |
Talaha is the striker with the second highest number of goals in the AFF Cup 2018 top scorer list with 5 goals and in the past 2 matches against Indonesia and UAE, the 33-year-old veteran is still an irreplaceable player in coach Tan Cheng Hoe's attack.
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| Sumared has not fully recovered from his injury. Photo: Trung Kien |
The most dangerous explosive in the Malaysian national team's attack is currently the attacking midfielder named Syafiq Ahmad. Not only possessing strength, the 24-year-old midfielder has shown that he is also a dangerous "goal scorer" with 5 goals in the last 3 matches for the Malaysian national team. Most recently, a hat-trick against Sri Lanka in Malaysia's devastating 6-0 victory has helped Syafiq become the most mentioned name, especially for his ability to finish well in all positions.
In both first matches of Group G, Syafid scored against Indonesia and UAE. Locking down this attacking spark is not an easy problem for coach Park Hang-seo in the next match.
Despite possessing a strong attack, conceding 4 goals after only 2 matches shows that if Malaysia's defense is not promptly improved, it will make the "Tigers"' chances of advancing to the next qualifying round difficult. Malaysia is currently ranked third in Group G with 3 points, behind Thailand (4 points) and UAE (3 points), above Vietnam (1 point) and Indonesia (0 points) but has played 2 matches.
