NETIZENS THINK THEY ARE SMARTER THAN COACH
Armchair critics may have influenced Malaysia’s line-up against Jordan
SO, who decide who should play for the national team? FAM, coach Tan Cheng Hoe, the team management or netizens? Yes, there is now talk that social media crowd are having a say on the national team.
This cropped up after Malaysia’s 4-0 thrashing by Jordan in an international friendly on Wednesday in Amman, leading to speculations that netizens have ‘pressured’ Cheng Hoe to use their preferred line-ups.
Though world No 154 Malaysia were ranked lower than world No 93 Jordan, it was still no excuse to lose by such a big margin.
Jordan were already up by four goals a bit more than half way into the match, and it seemed the hosts eased off to spare Malaysia further embarrassment.
Many felt that Cheng Hoe’s decision to call up 12 new faces while retaining only half the national team had something to do with the “calls” from netizens. And the consequences are disastrous.
Khalid Ali, 64, who was one of Malaysia’s most respected midfielders in the 1980s, said Harimau
Malaya’s performance against Jordan was shameful.
He said this is not the time to experiment with few faces, especially when Malaysia are preparing for the Asian Cup third round qualifiers in January next year.
“From what I see, only one naturalised player was used (against Jordan), when Malaysia had several. The only one on the field was Guilherme de Paula. And there were selected locals who still can’t play at international level,” said Khalid yesterday.
“I think Cheng Hoe and FAM must make their own decisions regarding players’ selection, and not be influenced by online comments.
“At this point in time, we should be strengthening the squad and not starting from scratch with experimenting.
“Do not gamble with national pride, take out those who cannot play at a higher level because this defeat is just shameful.”
Khalid said Malaysia have to accept the fact that the national squad need naturalised players, but their expertise must be properly utilised.”
“I think Cheng Hoe does not know how to use the players in their natural positions, and how to blend them together,” he added.
The Brazil-born De Paula, who shone in the M-League, has been struggling to score goals since he started playing for the national team in June. Against Jordan, he looked out of sorts. Some critics claimed that the forward looked uncomfortable, having to drop deeper into midfield.
Khalid said Safawi Rasid also did not play well in Malaysia’s World Cup qualifiers in June. “He’s a penetrative player, you cannot make him tired by making him go to midfield and defend,” said Khalid.
“There are easily up to three players (in the national team) who can’t do that because we cannot tire them, as their natural task is to attack.
“For example, when we played under (former national coach) Karl Heinz Weigang (in the 1980s), he studied each player. He strengthened them. For instance, James Wong... he couldn’t come down to midfield because it would tire him to go back up. James needed to be up there to receive the ball, so it was up to the likes of me and Hassan Sani to play up and down, because if James was tired, it would be hard for him to play to form.”
Khalid noticed that some of the “regulars” did not make it to Cheng Hoe’s list, and if they were left out purposely, it is a loss to the national squad.
“We have also heard stories about how some players are too tired to play. In this part, we cannot blame Cheng Hoe but we can also say that it is a shame that they wouldn’t want to represent the nation,” said Khalid.
On Wednesday, Jordan’s Ali Olwan scored a hat-trick against Malaysia (34th, 47th and 49th minute) while Odai Al-Saify got one in the 42nd minute.