KUALA LUMPUR: Football legends Datuk Hassan Sani, Datuk Dell Akbar Khan, Datuk Zainal Abidin Hassan and former international Safee Sali have expressed their hopes and wishes for the New Year.
Hassan Sani, 65, said he hopes the present national team will put Malaysian football back to winning ways, just like how he and his 1980 teammates qualified for the Moscow Olympics.
Famously known as "lipas kudung" for his agility, former striker Hassan believes that the Malaysia team can create history under astute South Korean coach Kim Pan Gon.
"Win or lose in the World Cup qualifier is beside the point. It would be a great story to tell, just like how we qualified for the Olympics.
"To qualify on merit for the Asian Cup (starting in Doha this week)
is a step in the right direction."
Dell, who played as a right-back in the 1972 Olympic qualifiers, said: "I hope to see the team give a performance that we will be proud of."
Zainal, who had played alongside icons such as the late Datuk Mokhtar Dahari, Datuk R. Arumugam and Datuk Soh Chin Aun, said: "I dare to say that Malaysia do have a chance at the Asian Cup because the team have proved that they can go far."
Safee, who was part of the 2010 AFF Cup-winning squad, said: "I want to see more youth players coming up because we will need them to replace the current national players."
Harimau Malaya will spend New Year's Day in the skies as they travel to Doha in preparation for the Asian Cup. Their first match will be against world No. 87 Jordan on Jan 15 followed by world No. 86 Bahrain (Jan 20) and world No. 23 South Korea (Jan 25).