LET PAN GON DO HIS JOB
Satia tells critics not to question coach’s national selection
FOOTBALL Coaches Association of Malaysia president B. Satiananthan has urged critics to leave national coach Kim Pan Gon and striker Guilherme de Paula alone.
Satiananthan said they should have faith in the South Korean since the FA of Malaysia are looking to Pan Gon to revive the national team.
Recently, Pan Gon’s selection of 29 players was questioned by fans. The players, who checked into training camp yesterday, will play two international friendlies — against Brunei (on May 27) and Hong Kong (on June 1). Malaysia are preparing for the Asian Cup qualifiers against Turkmenistan, Bahrain and Bangladesh at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, in June.
The critics are not in favour of Pan Gon including the underperforming naturalised Brazilian player De Paula.
Satiananthan believes Pan Gon was thorough in everything that he did, and that his choice of national players should not be criticised.
“I heard that Pan Gon does everything thoroughly, so we should leave him alone. We can talk, people can criticise but once the game starts, if he fails... the responsibility falls on Pan Gon and not anyone else.
“If we listen to others, there will be 120 players on that list.
“Pan Gon wants to see for himself... then he will have an idea. Right now, can you name any big guy who is a target man? Who knows, maybe Pan Gon can get the best out of De Paula? So, we must give him a chance.
“De Paula is from a team like JDT (Johor Darul Ta’zim) that is filled with stars and it’s not easy to get a start there because when you have players like Fernando Forestieri and Bergson da Silva scoring all the time, do you think Benjamin Mora will take them off?
“People pick on De Paula getting a call-up, what’s the problem? What about Luqman Hakim Shamsudin? He doesn’t even play for the second team (at Belgium’s KV Kortrijk). Then on what merit should he be there (on the senior team)?” said Satiananthan.
“Pan Gon knows that the youngsters have commitments to the national Under-23 as well, so he probably does not want to disrupt the team because we also don’t know who will be his first eleven.
“There are players, that given the time and space like in the M-League, they look good but at international level, top teams will not give them the time and space. So, we must factor in how players will react to that situation.”