I watched their game against Vietnam (lost 1-2). I dunno what were they doing. They looked lost & too cautious, not a single, commendable attempt on goal & poor ball-handling really let themselves down. The defence kept on sending long ball forward & everytime the long balls will be cleared quite easily I must say by the Vietnamese. Instead of working the ball up through the midfield, they kept on sending long balls, as if they lack imagination on how to attack. & we controlled most of the game. The Viets got their 1st goal from a set piece & the second was .... I reckon the keeper could've dealt with it better, his eyes wasn't on the ball.

I've watched them play before & they are certainly capable of playing better. But against the Vietnamese, it was like a different team altogether. The players seemed very, very scared of making mistakes & ended up making loads of them !!! Maybe pressure is too much, but then that's what football at that level is all about.

The team only got themselves to blame.

Not much running, & they are afraid to take on their opponents. That's why they to the long pass. Why do that when U dun even have a sprinter on the team ? Tactics Rajagopal, tactics....

This is why most of teams (even our national team) using foreign coaches fails :

Konflik dalam NS NAZA

What's the point of hiring foreign coaches if U dun wanna listen to them ? I tell U one of the root causes of Malaysian football failure is the players are too manja. Training lebih sikit, complain to manager. Coach tengking sikit, complain to Menteri Besar. How to improve ? Anybody saw TV3 8 o'clock news yesterday ? Our current gymnastic coach is from China. He said, what Malaysian gymnastic team is doing now is only 50% of what the Chinese team is doing, & yet they always complain. For our team to succeed at international level he said, our commitment must be double of what we give now, commitment to training, parents commitment, etc.

There was a documentary in Discovery couple of months back, in Inside China I think. It showed the journey of a kid wanting to get a place in China's Olympic gymnastic team. Our kids here, baru menang satu medal Sukma, want to be treated like superstar edi. Attitude....

It's not just football, it's sports in general. How does locals like Nicol David, Karamjit Singh can become World Champion in sports dominated by Europeans ? Commitment, professionalism, attitude. That's what keep U going even if there's no support from anybody, especially govt (read: Karamjit Singh).

About MyTeam, good thing they've been winning games. But this very team that everybody said is going to revive Malaysian football, is managed by a very outspoken politician (which many said is another cause why our sports is so bad) : Mr Khairy Jamaludin. Very anxious to see how this team will fare this season. Bojan is a good coach I think, if the players can follow his instructions, maybe they can fare well enuf.

I dun think it's 8.00 am, more like 8.00 pm. Most Super League teams train at nite, starting at 8.00 right up to 10.30 or 11.00. Most teams dun have separate sessions for fitness, they just cram everything into the 2-3 hr session (fitness, tactics, technique, etc). Some teams do assign their players to the gym in the afternoons though.

The teams expect the players to do their own fitness regime, but we're not like pros in Europe, where sometime they can engage their own personal fitness coach. In Malaysia, the general mentality is, if the coach are not there, then we dun have to train, or just train lightly. That is why when very committed foreign coach takes over, the players feel the pressure to train (!), & after a while, they'll revolt, & ask the management to send the foreign coach home, coz his style doesn't suit the local style of play. The smart management team listen to the players & send the coach home.

When I was cycling I had a Russian coach. The coach asked us to eat oatmeal for breakfast coz he said that it's more nutritious & can keep us fueled for at least 2-3 hrs. Before that with the local coach, we used to eat nasi lemak & roti canai, & after breakfast we're gonna need another 30 mins to go to the toilet, & we go out at around 7.30. If we take oatmeal for breakfast, we dun need to go to the toilet (U dun eat oatmeal with kari & sambal, do U ?) & we can go out at least 30 mins earlier & avoid the traffic.

In the end we stuck with the Russian coach & went on to win the Sukma 1996 cycling event, winning 8 out of 10 gold medals on offer.

Aiks ? Since when Malaysian team pakai Nike ? I thought they have deal with Adidas for like... forever...

Harimau muda is a club ? It's the national under 19 team. Which had to give up their place in the league, after qualifying on merit to the Super League, to accomodate Pahang, which finished bottom of the Super League. Now, why in the hell, do they have to give up their place to Pahang ? Which state does the FAM President came from ? All together now... give a P !.... A!....H!.....

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Added on December 18, 2009, 9:15 amI was 13 when Malaysia won the last gold medal in 1989. At that time I had to watch live on TV, not allowed to go to stadium (at that time, 13 is still considered small kid). I remembered after the game finished & Tun Mahathir was giving his closing ceremony speech, his speech was constantly interrupted by shouts from the ppl in Stadium Merdeka, they shouted,"CUTIIIIIII !!!!!". at that time, besides winning the gold in football, Malaysia came out 2nd overall in SEA Games. Tun Mahathir just smiled & announced the Monday week after as public holiday. I was pretty emotional when the whistle blew last nite. I was there too when we lost to Thailand in the 2001 Sea Games final thru a stupid own goal by the keeper. Now it seemed, payback time thru a somewhat similar situation.

Malaysia Boleh !!!

This post has been edited by tenno: Dec 18 2009, 09:15 AM

I agree with U on Akmal Rizal. What a waste that he chose to play for local clubs. He's a very rare talent in Malaysian football. I remember seeing him years back.. maybe just after he came back from his overseas stint.. he was so good, it was like seeing a foreign player, & I'm not exaggerating.

The key to revitalizing Malaysian football & also FAM is to remove the president. This is what happens when U have royalty heading a sports organization, national sports body summore... no one dare to challenge him.. After like 25 years, he must step down. Just look at Pahang team.. pathetic. I agree with most of the opinion on local newspapers just before the FAM election.. U must select somebody with a good track record, somebody who comes from a successful state team.. The reason is for everybody to see.. if U can't even bring Ur state team to glory, how can U expect the same thing for the national team ? Pahang won the Malaysia Cup like what ? Once ? & the Super League, or even the Semi Pro League for that matter, for like what ? Twice ?

The FAM president was the main reason why our Harimau Muda was booted out of the Super League, after qualifying on merit, they dun even get their prize money !!! That prize money shud be divided among the players as a reward for all their hard work... Harimau Muda was booted so that Pahang can stay in the Super League. If U notice the trend in Super League, whenever Pahang gets relegated they will come up with all sorts of reason to make them stay in the top flight, like adding the number of teams, letting promoted clubs with bad financial record go bust .. everything la.

He must step down.

Overrated or whatever.. my point is if even Ur state is in shambles, how can anybody expect U to lead the nation's football governing body. Track record....

There are some notable personalities who are really great sports administrators.. some are even politician.. but those ppl are very rare. Ppl like Dato' Ahmad Basri Akil (Kedah) and Tan Sri Elyas Omar are among them. But once these ppl get more publicity & support from the athletes, the politicians will come in & boot them out. Haih...