Way Forward

Having watched the match between Chelsea FC and Team Malaysia, I have the followings observations to share:

1. Malaysia need a coach with international experiences who are exposed to competitive matches in Europe and in major competition such as the World Cup and the Olympics. How is a local coach to train a group of young Malaysians who are not exposed to competitive matches when the coach has no such experiences? For example when a team is preparing for major competition how are the training regime like? What sorts of preparation took place? Other than physical training, what about psychology and mental training? These experiences are invaluable when come to major competition and Malaysia need one right now.

2. Malaysia does not have form and shape in their game. The game plan in the match with Chelsea was very simple and very similar to the 70’s during the era of Mokhtar Dahari, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh etc where individual flair dictates the game most of the time. In another word, there was very little progress since the 70’s, which directly justifies Malaysia’s FIFA ranking at this time. In the game there were sporadic individual skill but we couldn’t really see any build up and set play in their game. Most of the time they were desperately chasing the ball and trying to limit the Chelsea team and not really having a plan of what to do once they get the ball. The player tends to look at each other looking for someone to pass the ball and when under pressure will release the ball aimlessly.

3. Malaysian players need more stamina and speed to compensate for the lack of frame and size. Having said this, there is no compromise on the goalkeeper and the defenders, who need to be fairly built to compete at the higher level. What we lack in size we have to make up in stamina and speed, and there are no options. If a Malaysian player can reach a loose ball faster than his opponent because he has speed it will hold him in good stead in the match. However most of the time we saw Malaysian players playing at walking pace and have the ball snatched from their feet countless time. They also tend to back pass quite a lot.

4. For the defenders and goalkeeper Malaysia need to develop players of at least 5 ft 8 in for defenders and 5 ft 11 in for goalkeepers. The defenders need to be heavily built and robust. They need to be trained to jump higher by developing the knee and leg muscle scientifically. This will allow them to challenge for crosses and to make a decent wall during free kicks. Since Malaysia’s FIFA ranking is low, we are bound to meet opponent higher in the ranking and as such its logical to assume that in most matches that Malaysia will be subjected to attacks from the opponent and as such the defense need to be trained to cater for this possibility. In competitive matches the better ranked opponent will score from slimmest of a chance and having big gaps in the defense will invite flurry of goals which will not bring any confidence to the team.
5. For the other positions, having skillful players with certain lack of size is still acceptable. Shukor Salleh and Azizul Abu Hanifa were slim built midfielders who can dictate game and make beautiful thru passes, as they are skillful and can read the game. They are mobile all the time and always get behind opponent’s defenders and supply crosses into the opponent’s goal area. However, if it’s at all possible, Malaysia must seek to build team with players of acceptable size and skill to compete at the highest level.

6. Malaysia needs more thinking players. Therefore please source for players that are university graduate of even university dropouts. The players must be able to listen, understand and implement instructions. The players need to also increase their knowledge by watching, observing and reading. The players need to be playing the game and react positively to situation, as all matches are different. They can’t wait for instruction from the coach all the time. At times they need to also provide feedbacks, because as players as they are the ones who are on the pitch and not the coach and thus will see the match at different perspective from the coach. Therefore if the players can’t communicate than how are they to provide these feedbacks?

I probably have other comments but these have been heard before, such as sending players to play overseas, money incentives, changes in FAM structure, converting imports to Malaysian etc etc.

However, having said the above it was commendable of the Malaysian team who were very hard working and spirited in the match. For the night it may be worth it, however for long term achievement we will be chasing shadows as spirit and hard-work without any strategy will not get us very far. I am a big fan of Malaysia, since the days of Moktar Dahari and Co, however the last 20 years were not much to shout about. Something drastic needs to happen to recapture the glory days of the 70’s and 80’s. Those days we have our football heroes that we always can count on in matches. It felt good to watch a football match knowing damn well that our team are capable of achieving something and when it happened it was such a frenzy and satisfaction and will be talked about for many years. In the match with England B in 1978 ( I think, I was then 17 years old), Mokhtar Dahari ran away from chasing England defenders and lobbed Joe Corrigan from 30 M to earned Malaysia a 1-1 draw with England at Stadium Merdeka. The whole stadium of 45,000 people erupted with cheers and it was just magical.

I hope I will live to experience the same again…….

Jebat-Siber