KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) — National Under-23 (U-23) team head coach Mohd Nafuzi Zain has set a target for his team to reach at least the semi-finals of the men’s football event at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand this December.
Mohd Nafuzi said while the Harimau Muda hope to make it to the final, their immediate focus is on overcoming Vietnam and Laos in Group B.
To achieve this mission, he hopes the best young talents in the country can be assembled to represent Malaysia at the biennial multi-sport event.
“Our main target is to qualify for the semi-finals first, before striving to reach the final.
“Our plan is to begin centralised training at the end of November, and we hope to gather the best players to represent the country at this year’s SEA Games,” he said in a post on the official Malaysia NT Facebook page today.
The 46-year-old coach admitted that a tough challenge awaits his squad, particularly against Vietnam, who head into the tournament with high credentials after winning the 2024 ASEAN Cup.
“However, that is no reason for us not to give our full commitment in this competition. Most of the Laos players were also part of the squad that faced Harimau Malaya in the recent 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers,” he said.
Group A consists of hosts Thailand, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, while Group C features defending champions Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.
The winners of each group and the best runner-up will advance to the semi-finals.
For the record, Malaysia failed to progress beyond the group stage at the 2023 edition in Cambodia after finishing fourth in the previous edition in Vietnam in 2021.
Malaysia last won the gold medal at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, while the silver medal at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur edition marked their most recent podium finish.
— BERNAMA
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