NOT even Jurgen Klopp or Carlo Ancelloti can help improve the ranking of Malaysian football. Brendan Rodgers can’t do it, too.
Jose Mourinho would probably decline if he’s approached and asked to restore the pride of our football.
And I doubt very much if Pep Guardiola and/or Sir Alex Ferguson could do it even if they can be enticed to come.
The draw with Timor Leste (1-1) and defeat to Palestine (0-6) in recent weeks triggered fresh angry reactions from fans and stakeholders. Coach Dollah Salleh looked a lone figure after the dismal performance. Some people are already calling for his blood.
We all know that it’s not just the coach who is responsible for the team’s performance. The 11 players on the field have a big say, too, but even they can’t be held fully responsible for the poor show.
If our football is to truly make a real difference in world ranking, and start showing consistent performance, we need to study comprehensively the footballing ecosystem. This involves not just the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), but also the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education, corporate sector, sponsors, referees, parents and teachers. Not to mention the fans!
The way I see it, no one has a monopoly of ideas to push our football upwards. If only we start acknowledging our weaknesses, then the rebuilding can start meaningfully.
Football is in almost everyone’s veins. One needs only to go to the National Stadium or to any stadium where the national eleven are playing to feel the goosebumps.
The atmosphere is electric, to say the least. The fans deserve better than straight losses; or one stray AFC Champions Trophy a few years ago.
The Malaysian football landscape needs a change badly. It won’t be easy, that much I can tell you. Too many people think they know best; with everyone wanting to see some magic overnight.
Even Louis van Gaal couldn’t do it in his first season with 20-time English champions Manchester United! So, we need to be realistic.
Remember how Malaysia beat Japan to qualify for the Munich Olympics in 1972? Quite a moment wasn’t it? (Thank you, Rizal Hashim, for that bit of information). We did that with limited resources. But we did it with players who were not prima donnas and definitely not earning the kind of money that some of our current squad are earning!
But where is Japan after that heartbreak of a defeat by us? Did they bury their head in the sand and mope their whole life? Did they blame everyone else? They didn’t.
Today, Japan is a soccer powerhouse in their own right. Japan, with South Korea, are Asia’s pride.
Thus, we should all welcome the move by FAM to sign a deal with the J-League to raise the standard of local soccer. In other words, the Look East policy introduced many years ago should be revisited and broadened.
In the meeting between FAM deputy president Datuk Mokhtar Ahmad and delegates from the J-League on Thursday, it was agreed that some collaboration be undertaken in the development of the football leagues besides professional and club management.
It was also agreed that proper and carefully-designed exchanges be undertaken for coaches, referees and players with a closer look of physical training, competition management and marketing.
While all these look very promising, the test really is whether we have the will to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of our footballing ecosystem.
If this is not done, our favourite national game of finger-pointing and pinning blame will thrive. Some players play well at club level but can’t produce the same form when donning national colours, some players play for money, coaches have favourites, players get opportunity to train overseas with foreign clubs, but get homesick and miss their nasi lemak and roti canai.
How much longer can our football administrators tolerate such goings-on? Politicians whose heart is not in the right place where football is concerned also want a say. Not to mention palaces, whose support are important, but perhaps can be better managed and streamlined.
Let’s vote for a 50-year plan for Harimau Malaya so that they can roar with pride and earn their rightful stripes in world football.
Let’s produce a Messi, a Neymar, a Guardiola, a Mourinho. It’s about time, really! We need exciting young talents. We can’t be depending on our existing crop of first team squad forever.
The writer is chairman of Yayasan Salam Malaysia