Jakarta Casual

PETALING JAYA: The FA of Malaysia’s (FAM) indecisiveness and lack of funds are depriving the National Under-21 team of a chance to play competitive football in their build-up to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

The once cash-rich FAM are still mulling whether to send the Harimau Muda squad to compete in the Slovakian National League (Division Two), which has already started.

The Slovakian stint was to have been part of the team’s preparations for the London Olympics.

But now, after almost two months of waiting for FAM’s answer, their chances of playing in the Slovakian League are as good as gone.

Newly-appointed National Under-21 coach Ong Kim Swee said there was nothing much he could do but to play the waiting game with his 24-player squad at the National Sports Council (NSC) Complex in Bukit Jalil.

“We are still waiting for confirmation about the trip to Slovakia,” said Kim Swee yesterday.

He said the players were continuing with their training sessions “so that we will be ready for action if we get the green light to travel to Slovakia”.

“It is important that the boys are given international exposure and the stint in Slovakia would have done them a world of good ahead of the qualifying rounds for the Olympics next year,” said Kim Swee.

He said the 1-0 win by the national Under-23 squad over their South Korean Olympic counterparts clearly showed the marked improvement made by the Malaysians.

For the record, Malaysia have qualified for two Olympic Games – Munich in 1972 and Moscow in 1980.

The Harimau Muda squad, under former coach Azraai Khor Abdullah, had earlier taken part in the Slovakian National League from February to May – playing a total of 15 matches, including two friendlies.

They gained entry into the second-tier of the League following the withdrawal of RU Sport Podbrezova in the third phase of the competition.

But those games were not official and their results did not affect the league standings.

This time, however, the Harimau Muda squad had been officially given the nod by the Slovakia FA and the Union of League Clubs to play a full season in their professional league, which kicked off in the middle of this month.

Sadly, FAM seem oblivious to that fact, saying that they expect to make an announcement on the Harimau Muda’s future at the FAM congress on Saturday.

Are you for real, FAM?

COMMENT - they are very possibly the finest players of their generation in south east Asia and with what's coming up behind them it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Malaysia could well be the first team from the region to qualify for a World Cup in the modern era.

But it won't happen. Not while the game there is administered by a collection of Datuks whose knowledge of the game couldn't fill the head of a pin.

The FAM serve just one purpose. It gives the rest of us a jolly good laugh. But if I was on the inside, if I was a coach or player, I would have long left the constricting Malaysian football set up.