HANOI – Sensational national winger Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim has a twin-prong mission in the third Group B match of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Cup 2022 against Vietnam at My Dinh National Stadium here tomorrow.
Faisal, who scored three goals to emerge as the joint top scorer in the tournament, wants to continue the spree to ensure Malaysia’s victory and advance to the semi-finals.
The 24-year-old Selangor FC player is determined Harimau Malaya will bring back three points from Hanoi and would make every effort on the pitch to realise it.
“The match tomorrow is difficult, and most Malaysian players will be facing Vietnam for the first time, so I need to continue looking for goals to help the team.
“We came here to win and do not want to be embarrassed, because we want to make our families and Malaysians proud.
“Vietnam have good players, but we are ready for their challenge,” he said at the pre-match press conference at the Vietnam Football Federation headquarters here today.
At the same time, Faisal said he has high confidence in his teammates even though many people initially doubted the team’s ability after the final list of 23 players was released, following the absence of many key players.
He believes that every player in the team has potential and is able to play their respective roles well, but does not have the opportunity and space to showcase their abilities with the national team.
Malaysia defeated Myanmar 1-0 in the opening group game in Yangon on Wednesday before thrashing Laos 5-0 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
After two matches, Malaysia are leading the group with six points, Vietnam and Singapore, who have only played once, share three points each in second and third position, while Myanmar and Laos are in the bottom two positions without any points.
For the record, Malaysia’s last victory over Vietnam was in 2014 in the AFF Cup 2014 semi-finals, winning 4-2. – Bernama, December 26, 2022
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