KUALA LUMPUR: The obsession with the English Premier League (EPL) among most Malaysians has made Argentina’s World Cup-winning coach Carlos Bilardo worried.

The 69-year-old, who is a legend in his football-crazy homeland, said this spelt further doom for the future of local soccer.

“England has not qualified for the European Nations Cup and has engaged an Italian coach, yet you adore English football so much. There must be something really wrong with your approach then,” he said in an interview at the residence of Argentinean Ambassador Alfredo Morelli.

Bilardo, who famously guided Argentina to World Cup triumph in 1986 with Diego Maradona as captain, said he was also against the creeping in of “English football culture” in his country.
Bilardo: ‘Coach the coaches and look to Brazil, Italy or Germany, which have a healthy football culture.’

“Argentineans are also preferring to tune to the EPL than follow their local league. I resent this and have given my views to the authorities,” added Bilardo, who is now Secretary of Sports of Buenos Aires province.

His prescription for Malaysian football was this – “coach the coaches and look to Brazil, Italy or Germany, which have a healthy football culture.”

“To learn how to play again, you need to invest. Talk to football brains like Franz Beckenbauer (former German captain and manager) and (Giovanni) Trappatoni (Italian World Cup winning manager in 2002).

“Send your young coaches to them,” said Bilardo, a trained physician who mixed football, study and hard work from his childhood to rise to the pinnacle.

The Argentinian, who also led his country to second place in the 1990 World Cup, was in Indonesia and Malaysia to conduct coaching clinics and meet football officials.