Malaysia lost its main defender at the end of the AFF Cup 2022

Khuzaimi Piee left the field with pain from the end of the first half of the match in Yangon. After that, he had to use crutches to move. Coach Kim Pan-gon hopes his students only have mild pain, but according to Malaysian media, Piee's injury is much more serious.

According to Vocketfc and Malaysia's Astro Arena TV channel, the 29-year-old midfielder was taken to the hospital for examination shortly after returning with the team to Kuala Lumpur. The results showed that Khuzaimi Piee suffered a torn calf muscle, and it was almost impossible to recover in time for the rest of the AFF Cup 2022.

Khuzaimi Piee is the best central defender in Malaysia currently. Losing this Selangor player, Malaysia only has two people who are good at playing central defenders, including Sharul Nazeem and Dominic Tan, and three full-backs.

Malaysia will not be able to call up another player to replace Khuzaimi Piee. According to the rules of the AFF Cup 2022, teams can only replace players if there is a case of Covid-19 and the substituted player will not be able to return.

Khuzaimi Piee was not used under previous Malaysian coaches. However, under the Korean leader Kim Pan-gon, he became the mainstay, always the main kick, and also recently joined Selangor - a strong club in the Malaysian league.

At the AFF Cup 2022, Malaysia started struggling, almost sawing points in the opening match on Myanmar field, despite opening the score in the 52nd minute thanks to Faisal Halim. Myanmar was awarded a penalty in the compensation minute, and only thanks to goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi excellently blocking Win Naing Tun's 11m kick, Malaysia preserved the score 1-0 and kept all 3 points.

Tomorrow 24/12, Malaysia will play the second match, against Laos at Bukit Jalil's home ground. After that, Mr. Kim Pan-gon's teachers and students will march to Hanoi to meet the Vietnamese host at My Dinh yard on December 27.