LETTERS: The national football team is in dire need of a revamp after another loss in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
They have not been delivering the goals despite the investments in the team. We already lost by two goals to Oman in Muscat.
Ahead of the second-leg match against Oman at Bukit Jalil, it was said that the poor condition of the pitch would work for us against Oman.
Imagine hanging onto the poor condition of the pitch to win a game, and not ability or strategy.
On game day, Malaysia was struggling with poor passes. Oman dominated us despite the poor playing turf and the roar of our fans.
I observed too that there was not a single Malaysian Indian player. Where are the local talents? Oman had no foreign naturalised players.
The idea of bringing in foreign naturalised players was to boost our team and climb the world rankings.
Yet, we are at the 138th position in Fifa ranking and finished last in the group stage of the Asian Cup in Doha.
Foreign players on our team undermine local talent. It tells the world that we have no football prodigies or skilled talent of our own.
How can we forget the players of the glorious team of the 1970s, when we were feared in the football arena? We had a mix of Sarawakians, Sabahans, Malays, Chinese and Indians on the team.
We were proud of the team and we could identify with the players. Scout for young local talent and train them at our football academy.
The coach can be a foreign professional but the team should comprise only thoroughbred Malaysians.
SAMUEL YESUIAH
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times