Amin Anas
Football Tribe Malaysia
Malaysia started their journey in Sea games with a 1-1 draw against Myanmar, leaving a few areas of reflection for the young Malaysian squad.
First, head coach, Datuk Ong Kim Swee lined up his best eleven, with the majority of them coming from the senior squad. Several senior squad players like Akhyar Rashid, Syahmi Safari, Syamer Kutty, and Dominic Tan look like giving a bright hope to collect all three points in the first match.
However, two main issues could be raised here to explain why Malaysia had failed to get the victory in the opening match. Firstly, the chemistry among players is still low. It was evident by the fact that the game went far less smoothly than expected. In fact, the Malaysian squad is a combination of the senior squad, the U-22 squad, and U-19 squad members, meaning that many members of the team are yet to play together and develop a rapport.
Next, the condition of the field crucially affected Malaysia’s game. As far as we know, Malaysia is currently using original grass for the official football field. Playing on the artificial turf field was problematic, and had a detrimental effect on the squad.
Last but not least, Malaysia was unlucky to not to claim the victory as two chances by Hadi Fayyadh and Adam Nor Azlin hit the bar. Overall, Malaysia needs to improve for the next fixture.