Beating Vietnam after more than a decade a big achievement: Malaysia interim coach

Cheng Hoe made the remarks at the post-match press conference.

He first expressed his appreciation and gratitude to Johor Regent Tunku Mahkota Ismail for his support and guidance to the national team, saying that it meant a lot to the team. 

On behalf of the players, he also thanked the regent.

He expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who had sent his best wishes to the team before the match, for his support.

At the same time, Cheng Hoe congratulated the players on their spirit and commitment in the bronze-medal match. 

He said the team knew it had to play four matches in a short period of time and that all of them were very difficult, leaving the players more or less tired.

However, mentally, the whole team had always stayed together and fought together. 

He said the match had been a good opportunity for the team to achieve a positive result and beat Vietnam after more than 10 years, adding that he was very pleased with the achievement.

Cheng Hoe continued by saying that coaches had to keep improving so that the team could play better and better. 

He noted that one of the best statistics for the team was the number of goals it had scored, but he said football was not always decided only by statistics.

What was important, he said, was that the players had worked extremely hard together, stayed focused and made efforts day and night. The players' mentality had played a very important role.

Although the team had only had a short period of time to play four difficult matches, Cheng Hoe said he was very satisfied with its performance as a coach. 

Every player had played to the best of their ability and never given up, which he said was how they wanted to build and improve the team.

Cheng Hoe said the team still needed to continue improving in the future, adding that his men's spirit came from that of each player and that they wanted to win and achieve glory as a team and as a family.

He noted that the bond between the players was evident, adding that they enjoyed every moment and focused not only on the pitch but also on their bond off the pitch.

The coach said the players were close as a family and shared a big dream of winning for everyone, including the fans who had traveled to Indonesia to support them and those who had always supported the national team in Malaysia.

He concluded by saying that their journey was still very long and that they still needed to build a stronger team in the future. 

Although they could not take another step forward at that moment, he said they needed to work harder to ensure they were heading in the right direction.

Cheng Hoe said that in his position, he was committed to focusing on the national team and would do everything he could and give everything he had to the team.

He said the strength of the national team lay in its unity and that the players respected each other. 

He noted that the team had intelligent and experienced players, with everyone supporting and reminding each other, which he described as one of the secrets to building a football career.

At the same time, Cheng Hoe thanked the coaching staff, saying they had worked very hard to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Vietnam took the initiative at the start of the match, actively maintaining possession and pushing their players forward in search of the opening goal.

However, after the initial pressure, Kim Sang Sik's players slowed the pace and waited for opportunities to break through Malaysia's defense.

After the cooling break, Kim switched the positions of Hai Long and Dang Khoa on the two wings.

However, Vietnam still failed to create many clear-cut chances.

In the 35th minute, Hoang Duc made a careless pass, giving Bergson an opportunity to unleash a dangerous long-range shot that forced Le Giang Patrik to make a diving save.

In the 62nd minute, substitute Fergus Tierney received the ball on the edge of Vietnam's penalty area.

The forward immediately turned and produced a dangerous shot, sending the ball through Bui Hoang Viet Anh's legs and straight into the net, to the surprise of goalkeeper Le Giang Patrik.

After conceding, Vietnam pushed forward in search of an equalizer and put heavy pressure on Malaysia's goal, but could not find a goal and accepted a 1-0 defeat.

The defeat ended Vietnam's unbeaten run against Malaysia that had lasted more than a decade and prevented the team from winning a medal at the tournament.