Head coach Shukor Adan expressed his belief in the strong return of U17 Malaysia, even though this team once lost heavily 0-4 to U17 Vietnam in the group stage opening match.
According to Mr. Shukor, the most positive thing is the way young players overcome initial failures to regain their spirit and maintain focus in the next matches, especially in defense against strong opponents in the region.
After the opening defeat, U17 Malaysia had an impressive recovery when they successively defeated U17 Indonesia, U17 Timor-Leste and U17 Laos to win the right to the final. This coach said that the pressure and criticism after the defeat to U17 Vietnam became the motivation to help the players mature faster.
Mr. Shukor also emphasized that Malaysia's force has many very young players, even belonging to the U15 generation. Falling into a group with strong opponents such as U17 Vietnam and U17 Indonesia forces the team to make efforts to improve both physically and mentally in the short time of competition.
According to this coach, many Malaysian players are playing internationally for the first time, so the match against U17 Vietnam is an important lesson. He highly appreciated the fighting spirit of the whole team in the victory over U17 Indonesia - a turning point that helped U17 Malaysia advance straight to the final.
Malaysian media believes that stable form and increased confidence will be the foundation for U17 Malaysia to aim for the goal of creating a surprise against U17 Vietnam in the championship match.
In the history of the tournament, U17 Malaysia has twice been crowned champion in 2013 and 2019. Meanwhile, U17 Vietnam is one of the three most successful teams with 3 championships, equal to U17 Thailand and U17 Australia.
