Brunei – Match Report vs. Cambodia (29/12/2022)

Brunei was thrashed 5-1 by Cambodia in AFF championship action. It was the conclusion of a miserable tournament for Brunei, who conceded 22 goals in 4 games. But there has been one young player on Brunei who has put up some reasonable numbers considering his team gets whipped every single game. That player is Hakeme Yazid Said. So here are my impressions of him. 

Hakeme Yazid Said

• Nationality: Brunei
• Age: 19
• Date of Birth: 08/02/2003
• Current club: DPMM F.C
• Position: Winger
• Preferred foot: Right

Hakeme Yazid Said played on both wings in Brunei’s very deep 4-4-2 formation. The thing that stood out right away is his ball-striking ability, especially from set pieces. He tested the goalkeeper three times from long-range free kicks that were struck with power and swerve. Obviously, this is not a very reliable way to score goals but it is a nice thing for a player to have in his locker. He also got an assist from a corner so set pieces are clearly a big strength for him.

Said also demonstrated some excellent vision. He played two defence-splitting passes in this game that would surely have led to good chances if he was playing for any team other than Brunei. He is quite a direct player. His ball-striking ability meant he was able to play some dangerous-looking crosses but nobody was able to get on the end of them. There was once or twice where it felt like he was aimlessly launching the ball into the box, particularly late in the game as fatigue and desperation set in, but the crosses were mostly well placed. His first touch was above average and he showed some decent dribbling skill. He put players on skates a couple of times but he was also stripped of the ball a fair amount so he’s definitely a volume dribbler. But there were some drawbacks. He is not very quick. There was one play in particular where he beat two players and was potentially through on goal but he did not have the pace to take advantage of the situation. He is not that big and was bundled off the ball a couple of times. His defensive ability is also really poor. He dutifully held his position in Brunei’s low block but the couple of times he had to actually make a tackle opponents blew past him like he wasn’t there. 

Rating – A1

The AFF championship has featured a lot of diminutive wingers who clearly have some level of ability but whose true strength is a bit hard to figure out because of how bad their team is. I would say Said is the most interesting of this group, simply because he is doing it on by far the worst team in the competition and he is only 19. According to Wyscout he played two games in the Singapore league and scored once back in 2019 (It seems like his Brunei club team played in the Singapore league?). I don’t know what the situation was there but that seems like a very attainable level for him. Ultimately he didn’t do quite enough from open play that I would recommend him for a top Asian league or a jump to Europe but he’s clearly way too good to be playing in Brunei.