Saturday, March 17, 2012
Raja Takes It On The Chin
Malaysia are currently going through their most successful time in a bloody long time. ASEAN Cup winners, two time SEA Games winners, got further than any other regional side in the Olympic Qualifiers, Malaysia at the moment are too big for ASEAN yet too small for the wider Asia.
With its weak domestic infrastructure, constant doubts about the fairness of the games and strong state Football Associations Malaysia is nowhere near ready to take on Asia on a level playing field, no matter how good the players and the coach are.
Yet some Tan Sri, a title bestowed on Malaysians who do things rather like the English knighthoods, seems to feel the national team are underperforming. This particular gent, who is on the FA apparently, is not happy and had this to say recently
“Excuses for the team’s failure cannot be accepted all the time”. SOURCE
I wonder which planet this particular gentleman lives on. Teams fail all the time. What does he expect? Does he expect Malaysia to qualify for the Olympics just because they won the SEA Games last year? Well, that ain't gonna happen. For all the good work of the last few years, Malaysia is still way, way short of the likes of Syria, Bahrain, Japan or South Korea.
To reach their level will need nothing less than a reform of the mindset of those who run the game. It will need an end to the state FAs, it will need greater transparency in the game, it will need a more professional approach from those who are responsible for the game.
In terms of world football, South East Asia is small fry. Malaysia's stated aim is to reach the next Asian Cup and to do that they will need to beat teams from a region that is ploughing serious money into football and taking a long term approach. It also needs everyone pulling together for the sake of Malaysian football, not dancing to someone else's own personal agenda.
# posted by Me @ 11:41 AM 
