NATIONAL youth coach Bojan Hodak speaks with Timesport on his plans for next year’s Asian Football Confederation Under-19 ChampionshiP.
QUESTION: There is a big gap between Malaysia and Asia’s best teams. What are you going to do about it ahead of the AFC Under-19 Championship on Oct 18-Nov 4 in Indonesia?
ANSWER: Based on the 3-0 defeat to South Korea in the recent qualifier in Paju, we need to improve on several aspects. It was difficult for our players to follow their pace. The Koreans gave us less space and time on the ball, and you could see that they were at a different level.
To close the gap, we need to play more high intensity matches against top teams. Once you start playing with better players, you will become better, so we need this exposure. It will help our players adapt to the intensity.
Q: What are your plans for the team?
A: We will have a camp in January and most likely play in a tournament in Indonesia the following month. After the tournament, we will have more camps and maybe, head to Europe in May. This will be good as my players will get to play European teams. In July, we will have the AFF Under-18 Championship in Indonesia.
I believe that in October there will be teams making stopovers in Kuala Lumpur on their way to Indonesia (for the AFC Under-19 Championship) for friendly matches to acclimatise to the Southeast Asian weather.
Q: What are the aspects that your team still lack?
A: Tactically, we are still quite naive compared with top Asian teams in our age group. I am comparing this from the match against Korea in the qualifiers.
On the physical side and running wise, there were no issues. We could run like them and physically we looked good. Unfortunately, we were lacking when it came to challenges… my players just did not have the strength to match Korea.
And technically, our players are not at the same level as Korea. Most of the Korean players are equally good with both feet. They have better technique in receiving the ball and also very quick in making decisions. These are things we need to work on.
The Koreans have good basics. It takes a player at least eight years to master them. We cannot do anything in one or two months, but my job is to close the gap as much as I can. My team, however, have strengths. We are tactically disciplined and we do well in keeping possession.
But we lack little things like positioning, ball movements and timing that can win you matches. We had our chances against Korea, but they punished us with goals when we could not convert. Scoring opportunities will not come easy against good teams, so we need to make full use of the chances we get.
Q: What is your coaching philosophy?
A: I try to maximise the team’s positives. If you are physically fit and also tactically discipline, there are good chances of not losing matches.
Football is like chess. A team need to be patient to capitalise on opponents’ mistakes. You also need to hide your weaknesses the best way you can from your opponents.
Q: You said before that your players are shy. Why is it so?
A: In modern football, there should be two-way communication between coaches and players. Things are not like in the 1970s and 1980s, where the coach is likened to a general and players cannot say anything.
Healthy communication is important as in some situations, players know best. I think our players are not used to it as probably coaches here do not allow them to say anything. Shyness is also related to the culture here.
In my years in coaching here, nobody says anything when they do not understand. Sometimes, a coach needs to ask players personally... if they say they do not understand openly, their teammates may make fun of them.
But my players are slowly improving in this sense. When a team start winning regularly, players will get confident and become more open.
My team have won seven matches, drawn two and lost two, which is an excellent result. They are now more attentive and communication is getting better.
Q: What is the one thing you hope that your players’ clubs would do to help them improve?
A: The biggest problem is that the training intensity is low at some clubs. This does not help for those playing international football where matches are very intensive in all aspects.
I also hope some of the youth players will get chances to train with their clubs’ senior teams. It will not only toughen them up but also help them become better.
Q: You had a problem securing the release of some players for the Under-19 qualifiers as they were sitting for their SPM examination. Are they still in your plans for next year’s tournament proper?
A: There were five or six players, born in 2000, who looked quite interesting. Probably, three of them would have made my 23-member list for the qualifiers.
They are all Youth Cup players, and I will need to see how fast they can catch up with those playing in the President’s Cup and state teams. I will not make many changes for the tournament proper, but having two or three more quality players will certainly help.
Q: Are there exceptional players in your squad?
A: I do not like mentioning names. But there were few who played for their senior teams. Akhyar Rashid was in the Sea Games team and he also featured for Kedah in the M-League.
Forwards Zafuan Azeman of Perlis and Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak of Johor Darul Ta’zim II were also playing regularly in the recent Premier League. There were some youth players in Kelantan, Penang and PKNS who trained with the senior teams during the recent season. They all did well in my team.
Q: How important is it for a player to ply his trade overseas?
A: Players should have the desire to play or train overseas when they are young, before they sign good contracts here. A player with a good contract will not go as they can already afford nice cars and have girlfriends.
This is because they will have to start from zero in Europe or in other countries. It is tougher out there and they will not be willing to make the sacrifice. Players with talent between the ages of 15 and 17 should go abroad.
Q: Is it wise to fast track a young player’s development by promoting him to senior international football?
A: Recently, people have been saying on social media that our Under-19 players should play for the national senior team, which is not the same age group and level. For me, there is proper development that needs to be followed.
If they are promoted too young to older age groups, it could destroy their careers, so we need to be sensitive as Malaysia do not have many players with talent.
At the most, we probably have two players with exceptional talent in each age group and things may not work out if they are put in the first team too early.
Spain’s Bojan Krkic is a good example. He was only 17 years old when he made his debut for Barcelona. He, however, failed to fulfil his potential, and now he has almost disappeared from the scene. England’s Michael Owen is also one of many who could have achieved greater things, but he failed as he was exposed to senior team football too young.