The Vietnam team will play against Malaysia in a context of lacking many pillars, especially in attack.
Nguyen Xuan Son - the top scorer of the ASEAN Cup is absent; Nguyen Cong Phuong, a player with a lot of international experience, is also unable to play due to injury.
In addition, young striker who is playing very well, Bui Vi Hao, will not play in the next match for the same reason.
However, sharing before the match, Malaysia captain Matthew Davies said that the home team's defense needs to be careful even though the Vietnamese team lacks many good strikers.
He emphasized: "We need to be in the best form and ready for all possible conditions. We recognize the strength of the Vietnam team, respect them and focus on what we will do. We do not need to worry about their absent players because the Vietnamese team will have quality replacements."
Matthew Davies' reservations are well-founded, because in the last 8 meetings since 2016, the Vietnamese team won 7, drew 1 against Malaysia. In the two recent meetings at the AFF, the Vietnamese team won against the Malaysian team with a score of 3-0.
The Vietnamese team entered this match with an explosive attack and a solid defense. In the last 7 international matches, Mr. Kim Sang-sik's team has won all, scoring 22 goals, conceding 5 goals and keeping 3 clean sheets.
Major Malaysian newspapers all highly appreciate the solidity and balanced playing style of the Vietnamese team. In addition, coach Kim Sang-sik also received a lot of respect and appreciation, especially when he led the Southeast Asian Stars team to defeat Man United 1-0.
In addition to respect, the Malaysian team is also ready to end a long streak of winless matches since 2014 against the Vietnamese team. Coach Peter Cklamovski has factors to be confident when playing against the Vietnam team.
In terms of force, Malaysia has the participation of 7 new naturalized players since the beginning of 2025. They quickly integrated into the team and were welcomed by their former teammates. With players playing from Europe to South America present, the Malaysian team is expected to play a solid defense, be creative in their playing style and take advantage of opportunities effectively.
Compared to the Vietnam team, the Malaysia team focused on a longer period of time, with 3 training sessions, and 2 friendly matches against the Cape Verde team. Those things help the Malaysian players improve their expertise and fitness a lot.
According to Mr. Cklamovski, instead of being afraid of the Vietnamese team, the Malaysian team needs to be brave in taking on challenges and playing at home will bring an opportunity to win against Quang Hai and his teammates.
The match between Vietnam and Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers will take place at 20:00 on June 10.
