life is simple..
you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
no need to spend a lot of time in the gym to keep a good shape.
get paid 2k-6k per month or more than 10k if u're good enough.
no one will told you to quit smoking.
get married to a local celebrity.

why bother working hard in overseas then... hoho

we have to look in the bigger picture and see again why we want players to go overseas in the first place. it is so that they can improve their playing ability and become better players for our national team and at the same time became icon and accelerating agent to spur our football industry developement.. something like what Nakata did for Japan..

its all good to go overseas in the development phase... but at one point we need to see the result and bring bread and butter to the table..
thats why akmal rizal returned... because by that time playing and giving back to the national team and the local league is getting better an option than languishing in a amateur league in France... and if i am not mistaken, injury played a factor too...

to picture him as someone without drive and ambition and a failure compare to Titus james is not fair at all... if i remembered correctly, he had an active oversea stint with 2 clubs for 2 season.. nobody was more upbeat to go and prove himself there than he was.. but at one point you have to re-asses back where can you contribute more.. there no point being overseas just for the sake of 'being overseas'...

one thing NOT to describe Akmal Rizal is he does not have drive an passion.. after all the ups and down he had.. to see him spearheading the Perak attack last night still can be inspiring to young players..


up untill now, in hindsight, all alumni of overseas football not really do much to change the local industry.. technically and ability wise, Fadli Shaari, Rudie Ramli and Juzaili Samion is not better than locally developed players in their generation like Hardi Jaafar, Indraputra, Amri Yahya or Safee Sali.Either we are not doing it right, or, sending players overseas is overrated in term of results...

This post has been edited by aressandro10: May 5 2011, 12:30 AM

You're putting words words into my mouth. I mentioned Akmal Rizal earlier but was corrected because it was another player that got homesick and missed the food here. Hence, I am not saying he doesn't have drive and passion because unlike Titus, I've no idea what his goal is. If it's to play in the local league, fairplay but I find it hard to believe that no player wants to play in any of the world's biggest leagues. If they give up on trying then it tells me they don't want it enough. Let's take Fandi Ahmad for example. He played in Holland for Groningen and averaged a goal every 3 games. He chose to come back to Asia despite and offer from Ajax Amsterdam because he couldn't really adapt. He later cited his regret for not furthering his career there. While he did play in Europe, he didn't have the drive to want to further succeed there. The key sentence here is that he regretted not continuing to ply his trade in Europe despite having the opportunity. All that he needed was the determination to do so despite environmental factors. Why do some of us accept overseas postings in countries like Bahrain or Dubai for 2 years or more? To further our careers. It isn't easy going to a new country alone where the culture is so different but yet, some do. Once again, it depends on how high you set your own goals and ambition.

Why does a person go overseas? Assuming you are sent by FAM or any other local body, your deduction would be correct. The bigger goal would be to improve the quality of domestive football and the national team. For players who aren't given the opportunity however and fund themselves, I'm pretty sure the goal is to earn a spot in a foreign team with better facilities, structure with the view of earning a good income from the game.

You are also assuming that Titus or Akmal Rizal would forever languish in Europe's lower leagues. Just because it's where he is now, it doesn't mean it's where he'll be his whole career - in reference to Titus. If you accept the 'fact' that you'll never gain any headway, then you are giving up. In interviews, Titus has stated that his ambition is to play in Ligue 1. This tells me he has the drive and desire to succeed despite it being an uphill task. If players give up on that dream, then it tells me that he lacks the drive and determination required to succeed. This is of course relative to the said player's ambition. Not everyone wants to reach for the sky.

Not everyone wants to gamble on the premise of being able to make it big in a more competitive foreign league. Some prefer to be a big fish in a small pond. Their choice really - it isn't up to us to dictate if one should spend their career in the ignomity of the lower leagues or return to be the local hometown hero.

That said, mentality is something the FAM should be taking a long hard look at. I would imagine that had Zidane chose to be say an accountant like me no one would know who the heck he is... (sigh, such is the lot of poor untalented me!)

This post has been edited by madmoz: May 5 2011, 02:18 PM

I agree which is why I mentioned it's subject to one's own personal ambition. I used Fandi as an example because the fact he regrets not furthering his career in Europe, tells me he had big dreams. Playing for Ajax is no small matter and they actually approached him twice, before and after he went to Groningen.