Brazil coach openly states one fact about Malaysia being in the same group as Vietnam

23/10/2025 21:56:00 ceshi

The head coach of the Malaysian women's national team remarked that Group B at SEA Games 33, which includes Vietnam, is uneven.

In the women's football event at SEA Games 33, the Vietnam women's team is placed in the "group of death" alongside Myanmar, the Philippines, and Malaysia. In this group, three teams are strong contenders for the championship: Vietnam, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

Sharing his dissatisfaction about being drawn with several strong teams, Malaysian women's head coach Joel Cornelli, who is Brazilian, said the group distribution was not truly balanced:

“Vietnam is ranked 37th in the world, Myanmar 39th, and the Philippines 56th. Meanwhile, in Group A, aside from Thailand, teams like Cambodia, Indonesia, and Singapore have significantly lower rankings. Clearly, the grouping is not very balanced,” he added further.

fam-773x434-17612167570291526881848 — Malaysia’s coach evaluates the group with Vietnam women’s team as unbalanced (Photo: Harimau Malaya)

Nevertheless, Joel Cornelli remains optimistic about the upcoming challenge. The Brazilian coach said the team will focus on improving technique, boosting morale, and confidently aiming to secure a semifinal spot. To prepare for the tournament, the Malaysian women’s team plans two friendly matches against Hong Kong (China).

On the Vietnamese side, coach Mai Đức Chung affirmed that the team is not overly worried about being grouped with two strong opponents:“Before this tournament, we had the chance to play against many strong teams like France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Australia’s youth squad. We have also faced Myanmar and the Philippines.

From those matches, the whole team gained a lot of experience.I told the players to treat the Philippines and Myanmar as normal opponents, nothing to fear. Sometimes, they might even be intimidated when facing us.”

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