Malaysian football needs a huuuuge shakeup

Goodness gracious. Malaysia just lost 5-0 at home to the United Arab Emirates in an Asian Cup qualifier. Yes, 5-0....at home! Horrendous & humiliating.

Everyone knows Malaysia are no football power. And humiliations like that UAE debacle are nothing new, really. After all, during the 2007 Asian Cup (which Malaysia co-hosted with 3 other ASEAN countries), they suffered heavy defeats in their own backyard against China & Uzbekistan. Malaysia were then coached by local Norizan Bakar, who departed after the Asian Cup. He was replaced by another local, B Sathianathan. Sathianathan immediately won the Merdeka Cup with the Malaysian Under-23 team, & that within a few months after their Asian Cup flop. That seemed to suggest that Sathianathan might be able to improve the fortunes of Malaysian football, with a youthful side under his charge. That early success now seemed like false hope (or fool's gold, with all due respect). Just last month, in December 2008, Sathianathan's Malaysian team flopped at the AFF Suzuki Cup held in Thailand, where they won 1 match (v Laos) & lost 2 (v Vietnam & host Thailand), thus failing to reach the semi-finals. And now, the 5-0 disaster against the UAE.

Something is definitely wrong. Blame the coach? Well, ok, perhaps Malaysia's recent coaches are not the best in the world. But then again, back in the 1990s, Malaysia hired that renowned Frenchman, Claude Le Roy. Le Roy came on board with a good reputation after having achieved success with some African national teams (including Cameroon & Senegal). But he couldn't improve the fortunes of the Malaysian team, no matter how hard he tried. It's because African footballers are much, much, much better than Malaysia's players. Subsequent coaches (both local & foreign) have tried & failed to improve the Malaysian team. It doesn't matter which coach Malaysia appoints, the problem stays there & results never really improved.

No, it's not the coach's fault. The most obvious problem is the lack of quality footballers. After all, no matter how good a coach is, he cannot make an omelette without eggs. And this Malaysian team seems to have too many bad eggs. Many say that the team is playing the price for years of poor coaching & inadequate player development at grassroots level - & therefore, it is said that the current football system is to blame. This seems true. But hang on a minute, is it really all the system's fault? Should the system take all the blame for Malaysian football's current problems? After all, under more or less the same system, Malaysia managed to unearth better, more rounded & more dedicated back in the 1970s & early 1980s - the period during which Malaysia were actually had a decent football team, a team which competed well against teams from East Asia & the Middle East. The system may have been tweaked a little over the years; now, there might be better facilities & more foreign coaches able to come into Malaysia & do their work. But I don't think the system has changed very much from the old days; it is more or less the same. So if the Malaysian football system is now producing less than it did in the past (both in terms of quality & quantity of players), then it has to be assumed that the problem is also due to the attitudes of the players today. Some people have questioned the hunger & determination of current Malaysian footballers to improve their game & better themselves. Decades ago, it is said footballers played for the love of the game, train harder than the footballers today, & are less motivated by money. Malaysian footballers today, despite supposedly being in the professional era, are said to be less passionate, lacking ambition to improve themselves, too easily satisfied & settle too easily for mediocrity. Some even say the Malaysian footballers are over pampered & are in it for the money - the pay might not compare with what footballers get in Europe, Japan or Korea, but still regarded as "easy money" for Malaysian footballers. As a result of lack of ambition, Malaysian football has stood still, or worse, gone backwards. The Middle Eastern & East Asian teams which Malaysia rivalled in the 1970s & early 1980s, have now all moved on & progressed, leaving Malaysia far behind. Look at South Korea & Japan, who have featured prominently in World Cups & Asian Cups. Look also at Saudi Arabia & Iraq, who contested the most recent Asian Cup final. Look also at Iran & Kuwait. And then, of course, look at the UAE team which just caned Malaysia. These countries have top right infrastructure & system in Asia, & their players have the professionalism & desire to improve, which Malaysian players seem to lack.

So the problems in Malaysian football are due to a combination of factors - the need for the current footballing system to perhaps be overhauled & for player attitudes to be more professional. The former can be fixed with lots of time, proper thinking & planning. The latter, I suspect, would pose the greater challenge. How does one change an animal's ingrained spots or stripes?

Malaysian football really needs a huge shakeup. And fast! If it takes a humbling 5-0 home defeat against a capable Middle Eastern team to start the shakeup, then so be it. Better to get the ball rolling now, then doing nothing & regretting the inaction down the track.