Safee Sali has urged his teammates to buck up and perform to their level best against Vietnam on Thursday, claiming that Malaysia have what it takes to send shockwaves throughout the My Dinh Stadium.
The Malayan Tigers will start the game as underdogs after Vietnam secured a comfortable 2-1 away win in the first leg, giving them a solid away goal advantage as well. But Safee sees no reason to give up on the tie, just yet.
“We have to buck up and turn this tie around. Now they have the advantage of playing at home, but let’s not lose hope,” Safee told The Star.
“We have to stop them and we can do it because we have an experienced set of players, who have played under these situations before. More importantly, we must believe in ourselves to get the job done.”
Dollah’s men went ahead through Safiq Rahim’s spot kick on Sunday, before eventually being outplayed by Vietnam for the remainder of the game. Safee echoed the frustration of fans from the game, though he intends to let bygones be bygones for now.
“Nothing went right for us in the first-leg. Except for the early penalty, we were under tremendous pressure. But it’s pointless talking about that now.
“We have to buck up and turn this tie around. We need to study their game in-depth and watch the video of the first-leg match so that we can correct our mistakes. The fleet-footed Vietnam players used their speed to their advantage and were always a step ahead of us,” he added.
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