Malaysian football - What the future holds?

Uzbekistan 5 Malaysia 0....... not a very heartwarming scoreline that. This is the current state of a once Asian footballing power house. We are no more the power we once were and I don't ever see that happening. Day by day, the standard just keeps deteriorating and all the efforts by the governing body FAM seems to have come to a naught. Pathetic display from so called professional footballers who play in the Malaysian Super League (MSL). The only thing super seems to be the big pay checks this over grown babies seem to take home. There is no pride what so ever when they pull on the national jersey. There is no commitment, fighting spirit nor interest to prove that they can take the nation back to its heyday of footballing prowess.

All the legends - Super Mokh, Soh Chin Aun, V. Arumugam, Santokh Singh and etc will be looking on in utter disbelieve at the current state of affairs. At their time, there was no big fat paychecks or modern facilities like that of now but when they played, the pride of the nation took centre stage. There was always a never say die attitude that enabled Malaysia to be a truly power house in Asia. Teams like Japan, Korea, Thailand and others were the whipping boys and we could take them apart for fun. Nowadays it seems those whipping boys could dismantle us in a matter of minutes. Thats how bad we've become. Nations that picked up the game after us have prospered and gone on to greater heights but we seem to have taken many steps back.

What was our last big achievement? The gold medal at the 1989 SEA Games, thats all. Nowadays we can't even go far in regional competitions. The AFF Cup has been held for about 8 times and how many times have we been finalists? Our neighbour down south, Singapore have won the competition 3 times and are the current title holders after back-to-back wins. Singapore were once the minnows but now they are miles ahead in terms of playing capability.

The scoreline at the beginning is from the match at the ongoing Asian Cup tournament. The tournament is being co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The other co-hosts seem to be doing a good job of playing good football in front of their fans but sadly our country seems to be the most pathetic. Hammered in the first match by China for 5 goals and then again yesterday they shipped in 5 goals against the Uzbeks.

The current scenario does not augur well for the national team. Something has to be done and fast. A concerted effort has to be in place to take the nation back to the halcyon days of the Super Mokh and gang. For starters, I would suggest that the current national team setup be disbanded. Drop all the current crop as they do not have the heart to carry the pride of a nation. There should be a nation wide search for new talents to be nurtured and gradually bled into the national setup. There is no point if millions are gonna be spent on the players but they end up more interested in self gains rather than putting the nation first before self. Once you can prove that you can bring success to the nation, then only will you be rewarded. That should be the way from now onwards.

To Malaysian football, there is still hope provided we get the right people to manage and the proper players who have the hunger to achieve and carry the hopes of a nation on their backs.