Malaysia will face Vietnam in the FIFA ASEAN Cup third-place match on October 5. Head coach Tan Cheng Hoe hopes to end the team’s winless run against Vietnam, which dates back to 2014.
“I really want to beat Vietnam. We have not beaten them for more than 10 years,” Tan Cheng Hoe said. He said Vietnam were strong in attack and had added naturalised players to their defence. Malaysia’s priority was to stay focused and ready for the match.
Malaysia’s last win over Vietnam came in 2014. At My Dinh Stadium, Dollah Salleh’s team beat the hosts 4-2 in the second leg of the AFF Cup semifinal, now known as the ASEAN Cup, to win 5-4 on aggregate.
Since then, the “Tigers” have lost nine matches to Vietnam and drawn one. The only draw was a 2-2 result in the 2018 AFF Cup group stage.
The run appeared to end on June 10, 2025, when Malaysia beat Vietnam 4-0 in the final qualifying round for the 2027 Asian Cup at Bukit Jalil Stadium. FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport later charged the Malaysian federation with naturalisation violations involving seven players. Malaysia were subsequently given 0-3 losses against Vietnam and Nepal and lost their place in the 2027 Asian Cup finals.
After Australian coach Peter Cklamovski left, federation technical director Tan Cheng Hoe became interim head coach. Malaysia reached the ASEAN Cup 2026 semifinals with a second-string team and have performed well in the tournament.
In Group A, Malaysia beat Bangladesh 3-0, drew 0-0 with hosts Indonesia and defeated Singapore 6-0. They collected seven points and had the same plus-nine goal difference as Indonesia, but missed out on the final because they scored fewer goals, nine to Indonesia’s 11. Tan Cheng Hoe said the players needed to accept the result, while noting clear improvements in scoring and defending.
Malaysia brought its strongest squad and completed the naturalisation of three players before the tournament. Brazil-born striker Bergson scored 199 goals in 201 matches for Malaysia’s strongest club, Johor Darul Ta’zim, and has scored four times in three matches for the national team. Argentina-born midfielder Manuel Hidalgo quickly settled in and became a threat on the left. Australia-born defender Brad Tapp added stability to a defence that has not conceded since the tournament began.
The team’s biggest loss is captain Dion Cools, who left the squad to deal with a family matter. The defender, born in 1996, spent several years playing in Belgium and Denmark before joining Buriram United in Thailand and Cerezo Osaka in Japan.
Vietnam will also be without its strongest squad. Injuries have ruled out Nguyen Quang Hai and Nguyen Thanh Chung, followed by Nguyen Xuan Son and likely Do Hoang Hen. The players have also been worn down by a heavy schedule for the national team and their clubs. The 0-2 loss to Thailand ended a 27-match unbeaten run and exposed several weaknesses in Kim Sang-sik’s team.
Malaysian media see the match as a chance for Tan Cheng Hoe to achieve his goal. Bernama ran the headline: “It is time for Malaysia to end its long winless run against Vietnam.”
Tan Cheng Hoe asked his players to respect Vietnam without losing confidence. Vietnam still have one of the region’s strongest squads, he said, and a third-place match has a different character from a group game. “Vietnam transition very quickly. But Malaysia also have a quality style of play and many players who can control a match,” the coach said. He added that the team needed to be sharp and efficient in front of goal.
Sources: VnExpress
