The former Thai player ranked Malaysia above Vietnam at the SEA Games
According to the draw for the 32nd SEA Games football group yesterday, the home team Cambodia is in Group A with Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Timor Leste, while Group B has the defending champion Vietnam, the team that won many gold medals. Thailand, along with Malaysia, Singapore and Laos. Thai media think that their team will face many challenges when they meet Vietnam soon in the group stage.
However, former player and coach of the Thai team Witthaya Laohakul believes that Malaysia is the biggest obstacle. "In my opinion, Malaysia is the best candidate at this SEA Games. They have focused on preparing for a long time and built a good team play," Witthaya Laohakul shared on Siam Sport. "Then comes the defending champion Vietnam. But Thailand will be Malaysia's main rival."
Laohakul was born in 1954, is a legend of Thai football. He used to go to Japan and Germany to play and play for the national team from 1975 to 1985. When he switched to coaching, Laohakul used to lead Thailand and the U16 team. He is currently the Technical Director of Chonburi Club.
Malaysia is the second richest team at the SEA Games playground with six gold medals, 10 fewer than Thailand. However, the last time this team was crowned was 12 years ago, when they defeated Indonesia 4-3 in a penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 in official time of the final. Meanwhile, Vietnam won the gold medal in the last two SEA Games, in 2019 and 2022.
Malaysia is being led by coach Elavarasan. They have just had a positive momentum when defeating Cambodia 4-1 and Hong Kong 2-1 to win the Merlion Cup friendly tournament in Singapore earlier this month, even though they only met for five days. Malaysia will focus again on April 18, with a stronger force expected to convince the clubs to "release" even though the SEA Games are not part of the FIFA competition system.
Coach Elavarasan said: "My players have quality and potential. I believe they will improve. The team will try their best in the upcoming tournament. The first goal is to reach the final and then we will. will think about the next step."
At the 31st SEA Games, Malaysia made an impressive start with a 2-1 victory over Thailand. But in the last match of the group stage, they let Cambodia hold 2-2, so they lost the top of the group and had to meet the host Vietnam in the semi-finals. Here, Malaysia lost 0-1 by Nguyen Tien Linh's goal. In the bronze medal match, Malaysia lost 3-4 in the penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 in official time.
