QUOTE(Zan81 @ Jul 24 2011, 10:15 PM)
It's fans like you that caused the loss of support for the national team over the years. On the basis of consistent disappointment from the national team, shouldn't the English, Dutch, Portugese and French (prior to '98) stop supporting their country?
But sad to say, I have a feeling that majority of our countrymen will share your sad sad sad opinion

First of all, other than Msia, why do you all support your favourite teams/clubs in other countries like Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool/Barca/R.Madrid/Milan etc?
Why do you see more reds or blues in the stadium in the last 2 weeks than yellows-black?
There's only 1 reason - they can perform.
We are born Msians by birth. That's fair. And you guys also support your favourite teams, by choice. That's also fair. The English, the Dutch, Portuguese as well as French have garnered the supports from their nationals and also won their fans' respects because they know their players can perform.
The Indians and Pakistanis also win the respects from their supporters and fellow countrymen, not in gymnastics, not in football/soccer, but in crickets and hockey because they are proud of their achievements and performance in these sports.
So do the Chinese. Yao Ming, their icon in basketball. Their gymnasts, their badminton star Lin Dan and so on. Because they know their supports will be rewarded and answered by world class performances at the world stages. Now, do you expect to see Chinese cricket fans showing support in amateur cricket match? Hardly.
Football is the most popular sport in the world. Yet we hardly see much supports shown by Chinese and Indians. That's because they know that even with 2.5 billion populations, they can hardly find 11 dudes that can kick the ball straight.
Back to Msia. While supports are very important in crucial matches like World Cup qualifier against arch-rivals Singapore, do you expect all Msians to show blind supports to the teams who have repeatedly disappointed their fans in so many years? Football is a popular sport in Msia even before Msia Independence. We saw our past achievements quickly and quietly become the dusts in the history of Msian football, with nothing much to show since then. We feel proud, sad, disappointed at some points. We celebrate, cry, condemn. But in our hearts, we know that we are always, and forever be Msians. We prayed for victories. But what can we do other than that?
The dictators in FAM have been at helm for far too long. Nothing much have changed. Do you expect the footballers to follow suits?
This post has been edited by abc2005: Jul 24 2011, 11:12 PM