Malaysia Football Federation President: 'It's good to meet U22 Vietnam soon'

"Meeting Vietnam and Thailand soon makes it easier for us to plan tactics," Mr. Hamidin told Bernama news agency on April 9. "Play the strong team early, then we will meet the weaker team."

The FAM President emphasized that Malaysia "still keeps the goal of reaching the final in Cambodia", and recalled the anniversary of winning the gold medal at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia when it was in a similar situation. "In 2011 we were also in the group of death with Thailand and Indonesia and won the gold medal," said Mr. Hamidin.

At the 2011 SEA Games, Malaysia beat Thailand 2-1, Cambodia 4-1, Indonesia 1-0 and drew Singapore 0-0 to win the group. After that, the team defeated Myanmar 1-0 in the semi-finals and then beat Indonesia 4-3 in the final penalty shootout. At that time, Mr. Datuk Hamidin was the team leader and the head coach was Ong Kim Swee. Since then, Malaysia has not been able to replicate the achievement, the best result is winning the 2017 SEA Games silver medal at home.

Previously, when knowing the results of the draw, Malaysian media was pessimistic. They think that U22 Vietnam and U22 Thailand are better prepared when they just attended the Doha Cup quality friendly tournament in Qatar.

Malaysia U22 also prepares for the 32nd SEA Games by winning the 2023 Merlion Cup in Singapore. However, the quality of this tournament is not appreciated. Coach Elavarasan's army only met weak opponents, in turn winning Cambodia 4-1 in the qualifying round, and then defeating Hong Kong 2-1 in the final.

In men's football at the SEA Games, Malaysia is the second richest with six gold medals, just behind Thailand - the team has 16 times. At the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam in 2022, Malaysia surprised by defeating Thailand 2-1 in the opening match, then won Laos 3-1, drew Singapore and Cambodia with a score of 2-2, thereby ranking in second place. two groups of B. In the semi-finals, Malaysia played resiliently against host Vietnam, only to lose after Tien Linh's 111th-minute header scored the only goal.

Malaysia respectively faced Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore on May 3, May 6, May 8 and May 11 at Prince Stadium, Phnom Penh at the 32nd SEA Games.