Malaysians seem to be content with the headlines such as "Skuad Negara Kecundang lagi" - meaning " National Squad lost again". The great yesteryears of the swinging 60's and dominant 70's are such a huge topic, debatable, in terms of their true greatness. On one side we have people that will happily point out that in that era, football was not as quick and tactical as today. However, in the other side, the criticisms of the current overpaid players (probably not as overpaid as European players) are mounting. They will criticise everything -lack of passion, lack of skills, lack of tactics ..anything that has to do with the word "lack".
In my opinion, Malaysian football was dead and buried in the early 90's when almost all the teams that compete in the then Division Satu have players that were involved in bribery/match fixing. I remember vividly at that time, as a strong supporter of Selangor and my adopted state, Kedah, I was really unhappy that all my energy in supporting these two teams seemed to be a total waste. Here I was, eagerly waiting for the results of every match when in fact all the match results were pre-fixed. Shambles...absolutely shambles. The support for Malaysian football reached all time low. This, after a rapid decline of the national squad performances in the international scene, was a final blow.
After the clean-up, FAM tried to introduce a lot of things:- from banning import players to changing the league systems a few times. Did the results changed? A big "NO" springs to mind.. We lost to Philippines in SEA games, lost to Myanmar, and hardly beat the Thais or Singaporeans. "What the hell is going on" rumbles the Malaysians. Well, it is all down to one thing - tactics.
We have been playing long balls too much. It is okay to play long balls against South East asian countries, but against strong center half, we should be looking for Spanish-like approach--- low pass and quick movements. South asian countries tend to play more direct approach: clear the ball forward and hope the forwards will get to the ball before the opposition defenders. I've seen a lot of Man U games. Their players don't run all the time, they pass and move to create space. When defending, the basic formation (i.e 4-4-2) will always be visible
I can't believe my eyes when we played long ball against IRAQ- a country that don't have any facilities or league to play for more than a decade. Launching long balls to the iraqis which has superior height advantage was a total " Losing strategy". As fans here in England will testify, applying the Crazy Gang tactics (Wimbledon FC) of long balls might win you games and honours - back in the 70's, but not in this era. Great teams don't play long balls. Man U, Arsenal, Juventus, Real Madrid- all play "passing games". Back in Asia, we should look at the Koreans and Japanese, They don't have players with technical abilities of Zidane, the predatory instinct of Raul, the passing specialist of Beckham or the no nonsense of Ayala, but still they manage to compete with europeans teams.
I bought the new Man Utd DVD "Play like champions". Basically, it teaches young kids the basic skills that were thought at the Man U youth academy. Skills that were so vital but simple that I was able learn quickly. Did our young kids learn these simple skills - I guess not. We were trying our best to emulate Beckham freekicks or Figo stepovers but neglect simple things like shielding the ball or cruyff's turn. Titus was sent to Le Harve, and what did he was asked to do while he was in Malaysia? - Ball Juggling for the Malaysian Book of Records!! Is that they way forward for other young kids?
In conclusion, if we still counting on long balls to win matches, then Malaysia will just be an ordinary team like the rest of SE Asia. It is such a shame that with players like Akmal Rizal, we still struggling to find the right tactics. My advice- forget English coaches, go for German or Spanish coach. It's time for a change. Stop playing "Kick and Hope" football, lets play "simple pass, simple movement". The time has come for the lions to be awakened!
Posted by pendetabestari
at 5:31 PM GMT
Updated: Monday, 23 February 2004 6:02 PM GMT
