Future standards

Nazmi Faiz Mansor.

AS a football fan I have already seen a few generations come and go. Romario and Baggio gave way to Henry and Zidane and Ronaldo and Ronaldinho before the current stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi took over.

But those are the international stars, what about local football? It feels like every few years we flatter to deceive and we have to hear yet again about the standards set by Datuk Soh Chin Aun, Datuk Santokh Singh and the late Mokhtar Dahari and R.Arumugam.

I was too young to watch them play but even as a fan I have witnessed many struggle in their shadows.We even lost icons like Azizol Abu Haniffah and Matlan Marjan during the match-fixing scandal in the early 1990s and our collective football psyche seems to still take a beating.

The 2009 SEA games gold medal and 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup victory gave us some optimism but the defeat against Singapore in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers seemed to knock the wind out of our sails.

For the past two years our Harimau Muda squad led by Ong Kim Swee has been my main source of hope.

Speaking from Slovakia, Ong said that Harimau Muda has been a dominating force in the ASEAN scene and they are looking to retain the gold medal in this year’s SEA Games at Myanmmar.

“It has been positive progress not just Harimau Muda but also for other like Harimau Muda B and Harimau Muda C.

“We need to continue this progress and I believe Harimau Muda has a bright future,” said Ong

The junior squad has been doing well in Asean but yet to make their presence felt in Asia. During the London 2012 Olympic qualifiers, we struggled in the group stages and the match against Japan really saw the Harimau Muda outplayed.

Ong said that the next objective after the SEA games for Harimau Muda is to be a force in Asian football.

“We will be competing in the Asian games in Incheon, Korea next year and the boys know they have to do well to make an impression in Asia."

Harimau Muda have been playing in Slovakia for the past few months and according to Ong, the 22 games played there gave the young lads some good exposure.

“Most of the teams we played here played in Corgon Liga (Slovakia Division One League) and some have even featured in the Europa League.

“The boys gained some valuable experience and I can see some slight improvement in their gameplay,” said Ong.

Ong added that some of his players have the potential to play in Europe and the likes of Irfan Fazail, Fadhli Shas and Wan Zack Wan Haikal played in the Corgon Liga albeit in a short stint with FC ViOn Zlate Moravce.

However, he said some players opt for Malaysian clubs rather than foreign clubs due to good offers.

“In Slovakia, the average wage of a professional player is 3,000 euros. Malaysian clubs are offering higher than that and players are tempted to stay on our own shores rather than testing out new waters,” he said.

He feels that the players need to take up the challenge and play in foreign leagues and it will help them to grow as a player.

Ong says that patience and support are needed as it will take a long time for the country’s football fortunes to improve.

“Football is not a one or two year program. It is a long developmental program.

“Given time and proper development, we will see our country doing well in the near future,” he said

He also said that State FAs should play a key role in searching for young talents.

“State FAs will need to lay the foundations for youth development and also find professional approach when developing youngsters.

“We have talents all over state and if we are able to nurture them, we will have a bigger talent pool for our national team,”

Harimau Muda were also part of the Universiade Games in Kazan and they surprised us all by beating Italy 2-0 in their first group match and finished eighth in the tournament.

Goals from A.Thamil Arasu and D.Saarvindran were enough to sink the Azzurri even though we played with only nine players.

Our players looked composed and they held their ground well. Players like K.Reuben, Irfan Fazail, Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria and Mohd Fadhli Shas were impressive during the tournament.

Against Chelsea last month, young Nazmi Faiz Mansor made a cameo appearance for Malaysia and impressed! The 19-year-old midfielder played well as a holding midfielder and held well against the likes of Lucas Piazon and Marco Van Ginkel.

Our future looks promising but we have been here before. Early promise that never bears fruit. I wouldn’t be surprised if these young lads can beat the senior squad but they need to challenge at even higher levels.

Players should continue their growth by organising more European stints and also play friendlies against International U-21 sides and our national ranking needs to be improved in a calculated manner so that we can send players overseas.