KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian football will return to its glory days in 10 years time, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the current low ranking of the Malaysian football team is only temporary.
“In the medium and long run, we will see our football improve.
“If we look at the national youth teams across the ages, they have been making good progress not only in AFF (Asean Football Federation Under-18 Championship) but also the AFC (Asian Football Confederation Under-19 Championship) finals.
“These are good signs for our young and upcoming players,” he said during the 2018 Budget debate at committee stage for his ministry.
Khairy was replying to Bung Mokhtar (BN-Kinabatangan) who voiced concerned on the dismal state of the Malaysian football team.
Khairy noted that a former national footballer had recently remarked that the national team should be replaced by their juniors who qualified for the AFC Under-19 Championship in 2018.
However, the coach had advised that the Under-19 squad should not jump from ’kindergarten to university’ and must go through each and every step in becoming senior national players, he said.
“If they are given the exposure too early, they may not have the endurance and experience to deliver the targeted achievement,” he said.
Khairy also pointed out that better days are ahead for the national football thanks to a new leadership in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and implementation of the Football Development Programme (NFDP).
He said the NFDP has grown exponentially with 21,000 trainees aged between seven and 17 in centres or academies across the country.
Taking into account the gestation period, it will be about 10 years before these generation of players can grow up to lead the senior national team, he said.
He added that DNA, a new playing philosophy has also been drawn up to change the play tactics of Malaysian footballers in domestic leagues.
“Instead of just kicking the ball upfront and hping that someone will chase after it, there needs to be a proper game play which must be inculcated in the players from a young age,” he said.
Malaysia’s football ranking dropped and equalled their “worst” of World No 174 when the latest list was issued by world soccer governing body FIFA today.
The Harimau Malaya have now found themselves ranked even behind World No 170 Singapore.
The drop of four rungs from last month's 170th position came after a pair of 4-1 defeats to North Korea in Asian Cup qualifying which cost Malaysia 13 ranking points.
Malaysia are tied for 174th with Kosovo and St Lucia on 97 points as Singapore and Cambodia moved ahead of the national team to leave Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada's side ranked eighth in Asean.
It is the national team's worst ranking since Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim became FAM president in March, and matched the country's worst-ever position of No 174 reached in April and May last year.