DOLLAH Salleh must be congratulated for doing his best guiding Malaysia into the final of the AFF Cup.
The former international, who was hired in June, had limited time to prepare a solid team due to the hectic M-League schedule.
Besides that, Dollah also had to overcome Malaysia’s lack of depth in attack as some strikers did not get enough playing time as their clubs preferred foreigners.
Before the start of the tournament, the 51-year-old was criticised for the unimpressive performances of his team in friendly matches and also his decision to include seniors like Shukor Adan and Indra Putra Mahayuddin.
But it turned out to be the right move as Shukor and Indra made a big difference but of course, if Dollah had strengthened his squad with more young players, especially those from Young Tigers, the team could have had more depth to last the pace.
In the AFF Cup, Malaysia notched three wins, one draw and three defeats, which is a poor record for any team, while Safiq Rahim emerged as top scorer with six goals.
Malaysia were competitive but some players could not last the pace.
Critics felt Malaysia were only a 70-minute team and this weakness was exposed by Thailand.
The Thais scored late goals against Malaysia in the group stage and in the final, first leg and return leg.
However, Dollah’s side also had magical moments, including victories over Singapore and Vietnam away from home.
The team were three minutes away from exiting the tournament before Safiq and Indra scored late goals in the 3-1 win over Singapore in the group stage.
Critics also did not expect them to make the final after losing 2-1 at home in the semi-final, first leg to Vietnam but Dollah’s side played impeccable football in the first half of the return leg to notch a 5-4 aggregate win over the former champions.
Malaysia’s AFF Cup side were more of a makeshift team that Dollah had assembled due to the lack of training time.
Critics cannot blame him for it as Dollah was only hired in June after the FA of Malaysia (FAM) wasted six months to persuade Frenchman Philippe Troussier to coach its national team.
A FAM official admitted the national body had made a mistake by trying to secure Troussier’s services.
“Things would have been different had Dollah been hired earlier. We wasted too much time trying to secure a foreign coach,” said the official.
In his team, only four players – Mahalli Jasuli, Gary Steven Robbat, Muslim Ahmad and Fadhli Shas - were from FAM’s Tigers. Goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat also had a brief stint with the team in 2008.
But Dollah still had a formidable squad as apart from Badhri Radzi, Afif Amirudin, Hafiz Kamal, Robbat and Khairulazhan Khalid, the others had tasted success at least in one outing in the 2010 AFF Cup or 2009 Laos and 2011 Indonesia Sea Games.
The coach, however, must drop underperforming players from the squad for future assignments.
Right-back Mahalli Jasuli and Azamuddin Akil were far from their best while left-back Azmi Muslim and third-choice keeper Khairulazhan were the only players Dollah did not use in the tournament.
Among those who shone were Shukor, Indra, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Zubir Azmi, S. Kunanlan, Safiq, Amri Yahyah, Farizal Marlias while debutant and centre-back Afif gave a good account in his first international assignment.
The strikeforce was also an issue for Dollah as goal poachers Safee and Norshahrul hardly played for Darul Ta’zim last season due to various reasons.
However, Safee did contribute with one goal while Norshahrul not only scored once but also made a huge difference in attack.
He had a hand in all three goals in the 3-2 win over Thailand in the AFF Cup final, return leg in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
Things could get worse next season as FAM’s executive committee has endorsed the proposal to allow teams to field all four foreign signings (including one player from Asia) in the M-League.
Last season, teams were allowed four imports but only three could be in the starting line-up.
The decision is seen as a move to satisfy the bigger teams in the league, who will play in the Asian-level club tournaments next season.
With local clubs preferring to beef up their squads with mostly foreign strikers, the future looks bleak for the national team.
However, FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has a different perspective about it, stating recently that it will raise the bar of the M-League and also motivate locals to work harder.
Apart from that, FAM’s decision to release several Tigers players to clubs recently could give a negative effect to the team as some of those previously released last season hardly played in the league.
Dollah’s next mission will be the Asian Zone Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Malaysia will start their campaign in the second round (group stage), which starts in June.
The coach can forget about getting top quality Under-23 players as the Sea Games clashes with the opening two qualifying group matches on June 11 and 16.
“I only had a month to prepare for the AFF Cup. We have silenced our critics by reaching the final. Of course, the team had limitations that need to be worked on,” said Dollah.
Thailand coach Kiatisuk Semanuang gave a frank assessment about his team’s goals in the AFF Cup, by stating that he was only using the tournament to prepare his team, mostly comprising young players, for next year’s Sea Games and the Olympics and World Cup Qualifiers.
“It is great to become the first to win the title both as a player and coach but I never had this in mind when I was appointed as the coach.
“I dropped many seniors for youngsters as I wanted them to get exposed to high intensity matches before next year’s assignments.
“We want to make an impact outside this region. Our target is now to become one of the best teams in Asia. Other Asean countries must work harder to achieve the next level.
“I spoke about my goals to Dollah and other coaches here and told them that we must move out of our comfort zones and become more competitive outside the region,” said Kiatisuk.