Malaysia captain speaks frankly about Vietnam team without Xuan Son

At 8pm on June 10, the Vietnamese team will enter an important match against Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers at Bukit Jalil Stadium. The winner of this match will have a great chance to enter the final round of Asia's number one tournament at the national team level.

Đội trưởng Malaysia nói thẳng về tuyển Việt Nam khi không có Xuân Son - 1 — Matthew Davies highly appreciates the Vietnamese team (Photo: FAM).

Before this match, the Malaysian media mentioned the loss of the Vietnamese team when two important players, Xuan Son and Cong Phuong, were absent due to injury. However, Malaysia's captain, Matthew Davies, said that the "Golden Dragons" are still very formidable.

Speaking at a press conference, the Australian-born defender said: “We need to be at our best and be ready to respond to any possibility. The biggest difference under coach Peter Cklamovski is that we are focusing more on team play.

We do not think about the absence of key players on the Vietnamese team because they have quality replacements. The opponent is still very formidable. We need to focus on solving our problems because we understand the quality of the Vietnamese team."

Captain Davies also revealed that newly naturalised players Imanol Machuca, Rodrigo Holgado, Joao Figueiredo, Facundo Garces and Jon Irazabal have started to settle in. He added: “At first, we had problems with communication. The players had language barriers and things like that.

Đội trưởng Malaysia nói thẳng về tuyển Việt Nam khi không có Xuân Son - 2 — Davies believes that the Vietnamese team is still formidable even without Xuan Son (Photo: Minh Quan).

But for us, wearing the Malaysian national team jersey is a big responsibility. Therefore, we all take our duties seriously.

What we can ask of the newly naturalized players is to show pride, love and commitment to the national team. They are all quality players who have proven their talent abroad. However, they need time to integrate into the team. We should not judge them differently from any other player who plays for the national team. The important thing is that they give 100% to the team.”