Harimau Malaya : The Future

This time around, we have not been able to defend our AFF Suzuki Cup title which we have won in 2010. That honour now belongs to Si***p**e. The question on most, if not all Harimau Malaya fans' lips is, "What now?"

True, in recent years we have seen some improvement in the way the team plays, but obviously this has not been enough. We have failed to progress in the World Cup qualifying rounds and, as stated above, failed to defend our title. To be truly successful, we must look beyond the Southeast Asia region. We must be challenging at a higher level

But are the players up for it?

In the series of friendlies just before the Suzuki Cup, I've noticed the team lacked cohesion in the overall gameplay, and this problem persisted into the tournament. The most obvious examples are the games against our southern neighbours and Thailand. We offered next to nothing in attack. The midfield wasn't exactly doing its job properly, thus resulted in the lack of killer balls in the attacking third and also exposing the back four to the opposition's threats. For me, Safiq has failed as a captain and a playmaker. While he was influential in the 2010 win, he was invisible during the tournament. His only noticeable contribution was that freekick against Laos (which was brilliant, by the way). However, you cannot expect to keep living on one good moment throughout the whole campaign

One of the bright sparks in the team was Wan Zack Haikal. Recently awarded S-League's Young Player of the Year award, he showed us that it is not all doom and gloom for our national team. In fact, I believe that he is in for a bright future if he is managed properly. Together with Mahalli Jasuli, our right flank can be deadly in attack, sort of like the Neville-Beckham combination at Manchester United

However, I believe if they keep plying their trade in Malaysia, they may not be able to fulfill their true potential

Let's be honest, do you really believe Malaysia-based players can go far? Certainly it would be better for our football if our players started playing in foreign countries. I am not talking about countries in Southeast Asia, as they are of similar level to us, but countries such as Japan, South Korea and Portugal. Sure I may sound like I'm talking out of my arse, but really these countries are superior to us not just in footballing performance, but training, facilities and youth development as well. Look at Nazmi Faiz. While he was playing in Malaysia, he can barely play a full match. Now reports are emerging from Portugal that he is now able to complete a full match thanks to advances in medical science and sports science facilities over there. Which teams in Malaysia have those kinds of facilities? Not many I suppose. Training sessions in those countries are also more intense, in the sense that the sessions are engineered around improving stamina and technique. Take a look at Manchester United. Why have they been able to snatch a win in injury time, time and time again (and no, it's not because of Fergie time). It's because even after playing for 90 minutes, they still have that bit energy to carry them over the finish line. I doubt many of our players can do that, save for a few such as Kunanlan, who just can't stop running

Now this is where I believe agents should come in (even though some are parasites, even more so on the Football Manager games). The players should have agents representing them so that they can be recommended to teams around the world. While securing a dream move to the EPL or La Liga may just be wishful thinking, there might be other clubs in top footballing countries who might be interested in the players. That's how Nazmi secured his move to Beira-Mar. As much as I don't like to admit it, agents can make or break a footballer's career. It is absolutely vital to have good connections so that multiple clubs might have an interest in the players

Earlier today, the Malaysian U-15 team beat their Slavia Praha counterparts 5-0 in the Frenz U15 International Cup. For those who don't know, Slavia's senior team currently play in the top flight of Czech football. Our youngsters are showing great potential. While they may not have been world class, they are rough diamonds who must be shined to carry our nation's name in the future. Which is why I believe they must play overseas instead of in Malaysia. If we compare our senior team's performance in 2010 and 2012, we can see there's been little to no progress. As I've told my friends, it's not that our players have gone backwards, it's just that they have not really progressed. Our playing style has been the same, there's been no improvements or adaptations to combat the oppositions' playing style. We can't keep hoofing the ball forward for the striker to chase, that's kampung-level football. The players need to work on their technique so we can play short passes and keep possession for a longer period of time. If the youngsters play in Malaysia, they will never improve since our training facilities and tactical mindset are not that great. They should emulate Nazmi and train hard to earn a move to a foreign club and hopefully improve leaps and bounds

Another reason why the youngsters fail at a higher level is purely academic pressure. Some parents believe that professional football will not benefit them in the long run. Others are simply the non-sporty types and do not want their kids to have anything to do with football. While studying is indeed important, this mindset must be changed. Their kids may be the quality players that Malaysia needs to step up to the next level and may even secure lucrative contracts. Let these kids play and develop their talents, for there may be a superstar in the making, but their futures are scuppered because of their parents

The future of our national team is bright, but only if it's managed properly. With the clowns at FAM running the show, and the usage of obsolete tactics at international level, I am highly skeptical of this. But I do hope to see our players playing in top leagues in Europe and Asia powerhouse countries


UPDATE : Nazmi, you suck

Fenomena Nazmi

biasa la kan, bila satu team ni menang, mesti ada star dengan rising star kan? untuk skuad Harimau Malaya yang menang emas kat Indonesia hari tu, rising star berkenaan ialah Nazmi Faiz. mana taknya, umur baru 17 tapi dah bagus kawal midfield

lepas tu bila Kelayakan Olimpik, dia dapat skor gol paling cantik aku pernah tengok budak umur 17 tahun skor lawan Lebanon (sayang kita kalah 3-2). gol tu pun terpilih sebagai gol terbaik mingguan kat www.101greatgoals.com

tapi kita pun maklum la kan, orang Malaysia ni ramai kena penyakit HD. bukan hi-definition, tapi Hasad Dengki. tak caya? tengok screenshot bawah ni (kredit kepada pengamibl screenshot ni)

klik gambar kalau tak nampak

meh la aku counter point-point dia :

- kau rasa biasa je. ok, tu pandangan kau. tapi tolong bagitau, pemain mana lagi yang umur 17 tahun kat Malaysia ni boleh kata dia menang emas Sukan SEA?

- tunjuk belang kat senior? bukan ke dia yang antara paling rajin masa Sukan SEA dulu? pemain senior pun kagum dengan dia

-football is a team sport

-ni bukan asrama nak buli sana buli sini (ada buli lagi ke kat asrama?)

- memang la gol dia tak diiktiraf FIFA, jenuh la diorang nak tengok semua gol tiap-tiap minggu. perhatian, gol tu gol terbaik MINGGU tu. dah rezeki dia skor gol camtu

- apa dosa website tu kat kau sampai nak label 'bangang' tu?

- suka hati ATM la nak offer gaji RM100000 sebulan, tu hak diorang. tapi memang aku mengaku ni berlebih untuk pemain umur 17 tahun

-training Nazmi takkan seganas pemain-pemain senior, Sathia tahu macam mana nak jaga pemain

- ATM nak bagi gaji tu

- dah OKS pilih dia gi Indonesia, memang la SPM tak amik lagi

- dia tak amik pun gaji RM20000 tu

- tu namanya cita-cita, nak ikut jejak Safee Sali

- luar negara maksudnya kat rantau Asia la , tak pun kelab kecil kat Eropah. bukannya dia target sampai ke Barca tu

- orang panggil Nazmi 'Kaka' sebab muka dia la. research dulu bro!

- takde sapa panggil Park Ji-Sung 'Kaka' sebab cara main memang jauh beza. Ji is Ji, Kaka is Kaka, Nazmi is Nazmi

- kalau dia tak tahu main bola masakan OKS panggil dia masuk team U23

- perempuan tu no komen. diorang tengok muka je

- memang la takde sapa letak muka 'Tami Arasu' sebab dia tak wujud. Thamil Arasu ada la

- mana tau, mungkin ada perempuan bangsa India letak muka Thamil Arasu jadi profile pic dia? kat Malaysia ni bukan Melayu je layan bola tempatan

- lagi sekali, tu pandangan kau. pandangan aku, dia ada potensi

- kenapa kau nak samakan dia dengan Fakri? 2 different types of players, kau nak bandingkan

- Zaquan mana pernah ada skandal, dia nak kahwin artis pun semua dah tahu la. takde gosip sebelum tu. Aidil dengan Apek ada gosip pun prestasi top lagi

- mana kau tahu Nazmi ni akan hancur bila jumpa perempuan? ada pengalaman ke?

macam mana bola sepak Malaysia nak maju. bila ada pemain nak meningkat, mesti ada orang dengki. zaman Mokhtar Dahari pun dah ada orang camni. lepas tu tertanya-tanya kenapa rangking Malaysia tak naik. tak sedar yang diorang yang hancurkan mentaliti pemain ni sebenarnya

rafney87 - layan Bon Jovi lagi elok

der hiatus

safe to say I'm on a little hiatus now due to SPM

I promise to update this more often after it's all over, coz we're all gonna fill up our cameras' memory cards with pics

who knows, this could be the last time we'll be seeing each other until the results day

for now, enjoy these wallpapers I made to celebrate our triumph in the SEA Games

anak jati

Ke hadapan warga Singapura,
Meskipun anda dah menang 5-3 lawan Malaysia sebentar tadi, adakah kamu sedar bahawa tiada, diulangi TIADA anak jati Singapura yang menjaringkan kelima-lima gol anda sebentar tadi? Ini adalah pasukan KEBANGSAAN, bukannya KELAB yang tidak peduli berapa ramai pemain import yang anda mahu ambil. Meskipun kami kalah, kami berbangga kerana anak jati Malaysia berjaya menjaringkan tiga gol, diulangi TIGA GOL menentang pasukan yang mengharapkan pemain import. Kami warga Harimau Malaya mahu melihat pasukan anda bermain di padang rumput yang SEBENAR, ASLI dan ORI, bukannya padang hoki seperti tadi

Dengan tulus ikhlas,

The State of Nine Team

immature mentality

enough is enough, I suppose

ever since we won 3-0 against Indonesia, some immature Indonesians have attacked Malaysian pages on Facebook, hacked our websites, and (according to a source) misled the world into hating Malaysia

this is just a game, okay? no need to get too riled up over it

they say we cheat. how? did we do a Maradona? did we Cristiano Ronaldo all over the place? so some of our fans (immature, I might add) shone lasers onto your goalkeeper. fine, you may have a point if the goals came from set pieces BEFORE the 'walk-off'. but since we scored AFTER the incident, this theory holds no water whatsoever

if you insist, here's a video showing who started the laser show first :

 

so yeah, you guys started it. but we never complained, we blamed defensive frailties for the goals. we must be professional in accepting defeat

my school has been organizing student exchange programs with Indonesia. if I was picked to be among those students, I would be wary. there are nutjobs who are out to kill Malaysians, especially after this

on the claims we use bomohs and itching powder, I shall strike these down with 2 points :

1. if Malaysia have been using bomohs, wouldn't we be winning the World Cup for a few times now?

2. surely the itching powder must have affected our custodian, Khairul Fahmi Che Mat at some point during the game?

these accusations are totally baseless. I would like to reiterate that this is just a game. no need to make death threats or anything

I understand that not all Indonesians are like this. in fact, some of them are quite nice. but these morons certainly tarnish the image of their fellow countrymen, which I think is unfair

did we make any noise when we lost 5-1? no, right? so we expect the same from you guys

let us just get on with the game

peace out

UPDATE : I am of the knowledge that certain reports say that Mahalli Jasuli and S. Kunanlan are imports from Indonesia and India respectively

1. dual-nationality means a player can choose which country he wants to play for. Mahalli may have Indonesian parents but he is Malaysian born and bred

2. I never knew that Kajang was in India. can someone enlighten me on this?