FORMER captain Safiq Rahim believes Malaysia’s fine run in the AFF Cup has given the team the self-belief of attaining more success next year.
“We only had limited time together but yet we made the final.
“If we had more time things would have been better,” said the 28-year-old, who won the Golden Boot award with six goals.
“We must learn from the mistakes here and work on them for future assignments.
“Fitness is the key issue here. However, if we had no quality, we wouldn’t have reached the final.
On Dollah Salleh’s decision to recall several seniors for the assignment, Safiq said the coach made the right choice as they were among the best players in the M-League.
“I have to disagree with those who had labelled us as a team of old players.
“Except for three or four seniors, the others are still young and can still contribute to the local game.
“I am 28 so if people say I am old then I can’t do anything about it.
“The coach picked them because they had international experience and were also impressive in the league.
“We had a good mix of players, who each had their unique qualities,” said the Darul Ta’zim midfielder.
Safiq added that his achievement of being the AFF Cup top-scorer will motivate him to do better in future assignments.