Vietnam - Malaysia: Going to the final of U19 Southeast Asia

*Vietnam - Malaysia: 15:30 Wednesday 13/7, on Metasports

After passing the death table, Vietnam and Thailand were expected to reunite in the final. But in the immediate future, they have to overcome Malaysia and Laos in the semi -finals today.

Vietnam shows well in Group A, with strong victories against Brunei, Philippines and Myanmar. In two matches against direct competitors from Indonesia and Thailand, the army of coach Dinh The Nam also created more opportunities even in peace. The team ended with the first place in the table, the same achievement unbeaten.

Malaysia also passed the group stage but not so smoothly. Hassan Sazali's teachers and students won the Cambodian and Timor Leste button, held by the Singapore table and lost to Laos. They scored fewer goals than those who were eliminated such as Timor Leste, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Malaysia also suffered less when breaking less than Vietnam one day before the semi -final. Coach Sazali admitted that his players may not be physically fit. "I will only use the most energetic player for the semi -finals," he said.

The history of confrontation also tilted to the red shirt. Vietnam won three matches against Malaysia in the Knock-Out U19 Southeast Asia matches in the past. In 10 encounters in the tournament, Vietnam won Bay, drew Hai and lost only one match.

This Malaysia brought Indonesia a player playing abroad, the midfielder Omar Raiyan Azlan. Omar was born in Abu Dhabi, UAE, matured at Man City Youth Training and then went to Red Star Belgrade. But he has not scored for Malaysia.

Vietnam does not have any players playing abroad, but Khuat Van Khang and Nguyen Van Truong have experienced in the U23 Asian Cup in June 2022. Two Indonesian players. Because the landlord was eliminated, Quoc Viet had a great chance to win the top scorer. In addition, the two youngest players in the team, only 17 years old, including goalkeeper Cao Van Binh and left -back Nguyen Bao Long also performed well in the past matches.

Vietnam is not afraid of Malaysia, but the pressure from Indonesian fans. In the days after the final match of the group stage, many police officers were mobilized to escort the movement and training in Vietnam and Thailand. Indonesian fans were still angry as the two rivals did not play their best in the final minutes and the handshake continued. Indonesian officials have even had to appeal to fans not to put pressure on Vietnam and Thailand.