Vietnam lost 0-4, Malaysia Football Association held accountable

Malaysian football experts believe FAM must take responsibility for the 0-4 defeat against Vietnam U17.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) must be held accountable for its consecutive failures and begin to improve Malaysian football, said sports critic Dr. Zulakbal Abdul Karim.

His comments came after Malaysia U17 once again failed to qualify for the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup qualifiers – for the second consecutive time – following previous failures by the U20 and U23 teams, which also could not advance in their respective Asian qualifiers.

In the final round of the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, Malaysia U17 were defeated 4-0 by Vietnam U17 with a completely disadvantaged match. Overall, Malaysia U17 finished second in Group C with 12 points from five matches, while Vietnam U17 advanced as group winners with 15 points.

The last time Malaysia qualified for the AFC U17 Asian Cup final round was in 2023, and their best achievement was reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 under coach S. Balachandran. Zulakbal said the Malaysian Football Association has not shown urgency in addressing long-standing issues and is repeating the same mistakes.

"The Asian Cup finals serve as qualifiers for the World Cup, and our youth teams have failed despite many efforts. Balachandran’s team was the strongest we had, but even they couldn’t reach the U17 World Cup," he stated.

"We have failed at every youth level, yet no adjustments have been made. Everyone feels sad when a team loses, but it is quickly forgotten. Until FAM acknowledges its failures, the association will never progress."

He mentioned that Malaysia has tried almost every approach: local coaches, foreign coaches, European training, and even hosting the 2018 AFC U17 Asian Cup, yet still failed to qualify for the U17 World Cup.

"FAM needs to investigate the causes of these failures and develop appropriate plans to secure qualification for the youth Asian Cups. We cannot continue making mistakes while other countries with more serious football problems advance ahead of us.

If we cannot produce players good enough to qualify for the youth World Cup, how can we expect the national team to reach the World Cup? We have failed from the start, and this situation has persisted for many years," added the Malaysian football expert.

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