‘I HAVE failed as a captain.’ That was the honest response of national Under-22 football captain Adam Nor Azlin after failing to lead his team to the semi-finals of the Sea Games in Manila.
Malaysia exited the tournament following the embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Cambodia in a Group A match yesterday.
‘As captain, I’m very upset with the results here. I have failed in my mission,’ said the centre-back at Rizal Memorial Stadium yesterday.
‘We need to bounce back in future tournaments. The players cannot continue to feel down. If they don’t forget about it, they will never recover from this.
‘In the future, players need to do their homework ahead of tournaments.’
Fans felt coach Ong Kim Swee should have included in-form Safawi Rasid for the Sea Games.
Although the striker was in the provisional squad, he was not selected as the coach felt he had had a tough season playing in too many matches this year.
Asked whether things could have been different if Safawi was in Manila, Adam said: ‘A team cannot be too dependent on one or two players. To me, every professional player in Malaysia can represent the country.
‘It is unfair to put all the responsibilities on one player. Everyone has to shine.’
On whether he agreed with Kim Swee’s formations in Manila considering that it worked in previous tournaments, Adam added: ‘We cannot compare formations from one tournament to another.
‘Players need to absorb instructions from their coach and play accordingly. We simply failed here.