Tajuk Utama

There's a lot of things I really want to cover. So here's a list of them:

- Aftermath of the AFF Suzuki Cup my reaction and fans reaction.
-Malaysia's 2015 Asian Cup Qualifiers chances.
-An overview of the upcoming Malaysia Super League and Premier League.
-Upcoming SEA Games.
-The Malaysian League as a whole.
-Malaysia's Potential.

And many more topics.

My next post I'm talk about recognize football teams that come to Malaysia for pre-season. A Club vs Country senario. A real life senario Malaysians face every time his or her favorite team comes down to play against a Malaysia Selection.

It is better to officially have a Malaysia All Star team like Major League Soccer All Star Team? Having Different Jerseys, different coach selected by the FAM? Or have top clubs like Kelantan or Selangor or any other team face the giants of England? Or just keep maintain this current formula.

Last thing, I'm gathering a list of reliable people on twitter you can follow on Malaysian football. I shall post it once it's ready.

Sebelum Hujan Lebat.

I wrote this one on a wednesday. November 21st 2012 to be precise. Just before the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 started.

"This coming Sunday November 25th 2012 8:45pm Kick off time at the Stadium National Bukit Jalil, Malaysia will begin their defensive of their AFF Suzuki Cup tittle by facing Singapore in the opening game of group B. Malaysia will their campaign having failed to win any of the four pre-tournament friendlies. A handful of the Malaysian supporters are beginning to question the head coach after another disappointing act. Just recently against lowly Bangladesh.

The recent performances were very disappointing or toothless to say the least. This is not what the Malaysian supporters were expecting leading up to the tournament. The players and the coaching staff have a lot of work to do, if they want a successful campaign ahead.

It’s been awhile since Malaysia had large national pool of talented player to pick from. One of the many reason is the youth development investment under coach Ong Kim Swee who is recognized as on of the best coaches in the region when it comes to work with youth talent. Another is the recent competitiveness in the Malaysia leagues. With giants Kelantan, ever present Negeri Sembilan, consisted Selangor, surprise package Pahang and cashed pumped ATM setting the standards high.

It must have been difficult for head coach K.Rajagopal to pick from. So far out of the 24 players he gas in the team so far are:

Goalkeepers: Khairul Fahmi, Farizal Marlias, Izham Termizi.

Defenders: Faizal Muhammad, Fadhli Shas, Irwan Fadzli, Aidil Zafuan, Mahali Jasuli, Bunyamin, Zubir, Azmi Muslim.

Midfielders: Shakir Shaari, Amar, Gary Steven Robbat, Safiq Rahim, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Wan Zack Haikal, Kunalan, Zaquan Adha.

Forwards: Hazwan Bakri, Khyril, Norhahrul, Safee Sali.

Recently Zaquan Adha has gotten injured so Pahang’s Azamuddin Akil’ll replace him. The Malaysian supporters have considered the injury sustained during the Malaysia Cup Final to Kelantan central defender Subramaniam to be a major blow ahead of the tournament.

Datuk K. Rajagopal will have to make a tough decision to omit two players from the squad. As per-rules stated each participating team must submit a list of 22-players a few days before the competition starts. So who will be omitted? Many speculated it will be a goalkeeper and a midfielder but who knows.

Personally I’m quite disappointed with the omission of defenders Amiridwan Tajuddin of ATM and Nik Shahrul of Kelantan. Both have performed admirably for their respective clubs.

What will be the minimum expectation for Malaysia going into the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup? Well many Malaysian supporters are expecting Malaysia to reach the final for the second time. But it is a realistic target? If the Malaysian side shows their hunger and desire to win the cup for the second time in their history and as well back to back, yes it is. One of the few roadblocks for Malaysia is Malaysia themselves. Just as expectations started to rise, the team failed to deliver on occasions. Switching off when the pressure is on. It has been a familiar trait over the years. If they can avoid falling prey to this old habits then the sky’s the limit for this generation of Malaysian footballers.

With our recent slump, there’s no need the call to push the panic button just yet. Remember back in 2010? The opening game versus Indonesia, Malaysia lost 5-1, in the end we won the Suzuki Cup.

All in all, Football is nothing without the fans. Our support to the national team is priceless. So we as Malaysians must flood the Stadium National Bukit Jalil, fill up the mamak shops showing the games, show our love via social media and other forms of support starting this Sunday versus our fierce rivals Singapore and march on to the final!"

There was a lot of optimism and hope.

Malaysia for 2012 and 2015!

The note below was written back on Saturday, July 30, 2011

Article starts here:

"We have to remember that the team is being prepared for the 2015 Asian Cup. They can only get better. Injuries and delaying tactics broke our attacking rhythm and momentum. But that's not the only reason. A lapse in concentration in our defence caused us to concede the equaliser. We should have won the match, but as a coach I'm happy with my players' performance. It's not fair to blame any player. It's a team game and we all have to share the blame." - Datuk K. Rajagopal

Malaysia's gonna get better thru the years, with the progress they've been doing.

Strengths

Coaching Staff- No doubt KingGopal is Malaysia's most successful National Coach in Malaysia's footballing history. With Ong Kim Swee leading the promising Under 23 squad. Who is the potential successor to KingGopal, should the King want to retiree, I doubt it. If Sir Alex can last til now, why not KingGopal? For now the long term future for Malaysia is bright.

Goalkeeper- We have Khairul Fahmi aka 'Apex' by fans. Only 22 Years-old, he continues this professionalism, he can be a World Class Keeper. Farizal Marlias the former number one before the AFF Cup who was left out due to a long term injury is back. Returning from injury, he displayed promising performance for club and recently against EPL side Chelsea. He should be the deputy to Apex

Wingers- We got Kunalan, Amirul Hadi, Gurusamy, and etc. With promising players from the Under 23 Team such as Wan Zack Haikal, Irfan Fazali, Faizal Abu Bakar and co. Malaysia have a healthy competition in the winger department, with a lot of talent. For me Wan Zack is really promising, he can score goals, technically gifted and tactically aware.

Strikers- Super Safee, Mr Professional, he gets the job done. Norshahrul, he's a quality player if given the chance the perfect striking partner to Safee, I would say he's our Berbatov-type of player. Abdul Hadi Yahya, the capable back up, when call upon. Ashaari Shamsuddin, this man can open up defense if you watch the Malaysian Super League and during the AFF Cup. From the Youth we have KingGopal and Professor Ong Kim Swee's favorite player Fakri Saarani, who they rate him highly. Along with Thamil Arasu and Ferris Danial not only talented but smart and creative players

Our Recent Problems

Center Back- They haven't been a problem during the later stages of the AFF Cup. But since the Taiwan Game our Malaysian Center Backs, talented but only lack maturity. Mohd Muslim a very promising player having his temperament getting in the way. Aidil Zafuan a key player, the leader of the back line, he is a good player, but at times the pressure gets the best of him. If he learns to be calmer and a little bit relaxed he can be the key center back. I would love to see is Subramaniam introduced in the Malaysian Squad, inducted into 2010/2011 Team of the Season. This no-nonsense monster of a center back should be given the chance for upcoming internationals and AFC 2015 Asian Cup Qualifications. He and Aidil would make an intimidating pair at the back.

Full Back- Mahali, is a good player during the AFF Cup, no doubt. But recent performance he faded defensively. Still at 22 there is still room for improvement.  Other than that we don't really have good fullbacks, always depending our wingers to do the defensive work for them, which leaves no one to help out counter attacking play. Hopefully Malaysia can find a full backs that does their defensive and attacking duties.

Defensive Midfielder- Amar is the only one comes to mind. He is good, but no good enough. Doesn't control the midfield well. There is room to improve for this 24 year old Defensive Midfielder. Coming Thru the ranks is Sivanesan a good Defensive midfielder with a great engine, but only lacks the tactical awareness needed for the position. Azidan Sarudin, tactically good but lacks the stamina. If all these players improve their weakness. We won't have to be worried about the position.

Creative Midfielder- Before this was Amri Yahya. Now we rely on  Captain Safiq Rahim, a overall a good player, great at dead ball situation, great presences. He's improving his stamina. Only real weakness is composure. He deals with that, he can keep the ball rolling  across the midfield starting attacks for the wingers and strikers. One to look at for the under 23 squad is Gary Steven Robbat, 18 of age. I believe this man can be our Yaya Toure/ Jack Wilshere/ Paul Scholes type of player . A great long ball passer and intimidating presences. Gary at times does create silly little mistakes, he is still young has a lot of room to improve. By the next AFF, Olympic Qualifications, and AFC Qualifiers. He will be a key player for Malaysia long term. Just Imagine him and Safiq at the center of midfield.

My hopefully Malaysian Squad of 23 by 2013

Khairul Fahmi(GK, 24 years old)

Mahali (Right Back, 24 years old) Aidil Zafuan (Center Back, 25), Subra (Center Back, 27), Left Back vacant

Sivanesan (Defensive Midfielder, 24)

  Gray Steven Robbat (Midfielder, 20) Safiq Rahim (C, Midfield, 27)

Wan Zack (Winger, 22) Kunalan (Winger, 26)

Safee (Striker, 29)

Subs: Fazali Marlias(GK), Zamir Selamat(GK), Mohd Muslim, Fadhli Mohd Shas, Farisham Ismail, Mohd Irfan Fazail, Norshahrul, Fakri Saarani, Thamil Arasu, Gurusamy, Joseph Kalang Tie, Affizie Faisal Mamat

Harimau Malaysia, the past one year was just the tip of an iceberg. The future is yours for the taking, so keep on improving!

Note ends.

May I say myself. A lot has changed since then.

Loving that Gary Steven Robbat is developing quite nicely for us.

Again I wrote that in July 2011. Hahaha

Selamat Datang!

A football blog. A Malaysian Football blog. Always wanted to write up on Malaysian football since early this year or the start of the 2012 Malaysian football season.

I usually tweet or write notes on facebook about Malaysian football. I think now might be the time to do this. I hope I can do this on a consistent basis with mental strength.

This is just a place where I can share my thought on Malaysian football (Or even futsal, never know.) I'll be having some friends here and there helping me out this blog. They too will be writing up some thoughts on their own here. 

Thoughts, news, opinions and possibly analysis on Malaysian football. If I or my friends take any news, pictures, analysis or any form of intellectual property from any sports website. We will state, source them and credit on their work.

I'll post up some of my old materials that I have written up on my facebook notes. And post them here. I'll try to update this blog on a consistent basis.

Salam.