Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe disadvantaged against Vietnam national team
In his coaching career of more than 2 decades, coach Tan Cheng Hoe has a familiar opponent but rarely brings favorable results, which is the Vietnamese team.
During the period leading the Malaysian team from 2018 to 2022, Mr. Tan faced Vietnam 6 times in many competitions. However, the Malaysian team only avoided defeat once when they drew 2-2 in the first leg of the 2018 AFF Cup final. At that time, the Vietnamese team led 2-0 before the home team equalized.
The remaining 5 matches all ended with victories belonging to the Vietnamese team. In which, Malaysia lost 0-2 in the group stage of the 2018 AFF Cup and lost 0-1 in the second leg final.
In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Vietnamese team won both matches against Malaysia with scores of 1-0 and 2-1.
At ASEAN Cup 2020, the Malaysian team continued to lose to Vietnam 0-3.
These results make the Vietnamese team one of the most difficult opponents in Mr. Tan Cheng Hoe's career. This coach himself also admitted before the rematch in the ASEAN Cup 2026 semi-finals.
Matches with the Vietnamese team have become a tradition. But Malaysia does not beat this opponent as a habit," Mr. Tan said.
Looking more broadly, from 2014 to now, the Vietnamese team has won 9 matches against Malaysia and only drawn 1 match. These statistics create more pressure for the opponent before the two semi-final matches coming up.
What do Malaysian media say?
The Malaysian team finished the ASEAN Cup 2026 group stage with second place in Group B (9 points), while the Vietnamese team topped Group A with 10 points, scoring 13 goals and conceding only 1 goal. The two teams will meet in the semi-finals, with the first leg in Kuala Lumpur and the second leg in My Dinh.
In terms of force and expertise, the Vietnamese team is rated higher. However, Malaysian media believes that this gap is not enough to determine the outcome of the two matches.
Malaysian newspapers raised the issue with a call: "Put aside fear when meeting Vietnamese people".
According to the article, the Malaysian team needs to improve their confidence when facing Vietnam. This is considered an important factor if the team wants to create a surprise.
Coach Tan Cheng Hoe also emphasized: "We know the match against Vietnam is very difficult. Players need to be more confident and believe in their abilities. Besides, the support of fans will definitely add motivation to the whole team. The advantage of playing at home in the first match needs to be maximized, to get positive results before coming to Hanoi".
