PETALING JAYA: For Malaysia Under-23 football team captain Ubaidullah Shamsul Fazili, the Thailand SEA Games feel less like an away tournament and more like a return to familiar ground.

His mother’s parents hail from Sungai Golok in Narathiwat, just across the Kelantan border, a place where the language blurs, the food tastes like home, and family ties run deep.