'Malaysia is like a tiger with new fangs' before the match against Vietnam

Thanks to the recent wave of naturalization, the Malaysian press is confident in preparing to face the Vietnamese team in the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers.

Holgado (first, left) and Figueiredo (third, from left) are quality strikers who have just been naturalized as Malaysians - Photo: MALAYSIA NT

In recent times, Malaysian football has been continuously promoting the naturalization of players. Many of these players come from European or South American countries, with Malaysian roots dating back to their grandparents. Thanks to that, they are eligible to play for teams from the Southeast Asian region.

In the upcoming match against Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers taking place on the evening of June 10, fans will likely see many new faces from Malaysia appear. Among them are two very notable strikers, Joao Figueiredo and Rodrigo Holgado.

Figueiredo was born in Brazil and plays for Basaksehir in Türkiye. He has scored a total of 28 goals for the team, including 12 last season.

Meanwhile, Holgado, born in Argentina, currently plays for Colombian club America De Cali. This striker has also contributed 94 goals for his current team.

With the presence of these two quality strikers, Malaysia's New Straits Times boldly commented: "The toothless tigers have now been implanted with fangs, increasing their attacking power."

This newspaper commented that in recent times, the Malaysian team has not had quality strikers. This difficult problem has caused headaches for the Malaysian Football Federation and coaches. But now, the appearance of two strikers with high damage potential, Figueiredo and Holgado, will solve the problem of goal output.

"Holgado and Figueiredo could be the answer in attack for the upcoming match against Vietnam," commented New Straits Times .

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/malaysia-nhu-ho-cay-them-nanh-truoc-tran-gap-viet-nam-20250608124856878.htm