Malaysian Expert: 'Naturalization Still Needed to Beat Vietnam's National Team'

After the 1-3 loss to Vietnam's national team, a Malaysian football analyst believes the national team still needs to pursue naturalization if it wants to sustain its competitive edge in the region in the near future.

After the 1-3 defeat against the Vietnamese national team, Malaysian football continues to face debates about its future direction. However, according to Associate Professor Dr. Zulakbal Abd Karim, the national team should not abandon the naturalization policy if it aims to quickly enhance its competitive capability in the region.

According to the Malaysian football expert, the loss to Vietnam clearly reflected the disparity in technical level between the two teams. “Technically, we are at a lower level than Vietnam. Tactically, it's the same. Looking at past results, we once defeated Vietnam because seven players were involved in the document scandal", Zulakbal said.

"Therefore, indeed, we truly need naturalized players and those with a competitive tradition if we want to defeat Vietnam again,"the expert emphasized.

He believes Malaysia still requires naturalized players or players of Malaysian descent to enhance squad quality, especially as important tournaments like the ASEAN Championship 2026and FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 are approaching.

Malaysian media recently mentioned the possibility of players such as Bergson Da Silva, Manuel Hidalgo, or Giancarlo Gallifuoco being considered for inclusion in the future, though no official confirmation exists. Nevertheless, Zulakbal stressed that naturalization should not be seen as a desperate solution, but as a pragmatic short-term measure. “This is merely a temporary measure to achieve results in a short timeframe.”

Additionally, he also believes Malaysian football must seriously invest in developing local talent. However, producing high-quality players is a process that requires considerable time.

“But we still must cultivate domestic talent. The issue is that producing high-quality local players takes a very long time.”

After the controversies related to player documentation, this expert thinks the crucial point is for Malaysia to learn from experience and implement all procedures more rigorously in the future.

“Let's learn from the mistakes. We must understand FIFA's rules clearly to avoid repeating similar errors.”

According to Zulakbal, the most reasonable direction for Malaysian football at this moment is to develop local players alongside supplementing the squad with external resources.

“Developing local players and naturalization must proceed concurrently, to create both immediate and long-term impact.”