Football, badminton and hockey struggling to cope with unreal stratospheric expectations

ONE of the biggest challenges for the nation’s three biggest sports – football, badminton and hockey – is to cope with the stratospheric expectations from the public.

So happened the three sports have come under intense scrutiny only weeks into the new year.

The report card has not been encouraging, unfortunately.

After last making an appearance in the AFC Asian Cup in 2007, Harimau Malaya’s sojourn in Doha for the 18th edition of the continent’s showpiece event began on a sour note with a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Jordan.

Head coach Kim Pan-gon’s tactics came under fire among local football fans and critics alike for what they felt was an experiment gone wrong in the Group E match at the Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar on Jan 15.

For almost two years, the South Korean had fashioned his team by focusing on the speed of Arif Aiman Hanapi and Faisal Halim on the flanks, with a hard running engine room covering acres of space in support.

Yet against Jordan, Arif, the team’s most creative force, was in Malaysia’s goalmouth, the last defender when the opponent scored their third goal.

What on earth was he doing there, when he should be wreaking havoc at the opposite end?

With debutant Romel Morales the target man with long balls from defence in the first half, the game plan robbed Malaysia of their usual style of short and crisp passing with speed in the attacking third.

Plan A backfired in the opening Group E match, with many critics felt that Pan-gon should be more pragmatic against top-ranked sides.

The best thing to do under the circumstances was for Pan-gon to apologise to the fans for the heavy defeat, his biggest loss since taking over the hotseat from Tan Cheng Hoe in early 2022.

Likewise, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky has taken full responsibility for the poor performances of his shuttlers at the recent Malaysian Open.

For a second consecutive year, not a single Malaysian player or pair reached the semi-finals of the Super 1000 home event.

Former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were shown the door in the quarter-finals, while men’s singles Ng Tze Yong was forced to retire in the first round with a back injury.

Much to the disappointment of the home fans, women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also failed to clear the opening round. The World No. 12 pair succumbed to China’s world No. 8 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.

World No. 9 mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were sent packing in the second round.

As for A. Arulselvaraj, the hockey team’s dismal failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics was not unexpected.

He is now leaving it to his employers, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), to decide his future. Malaysia drew 3-3 with Pakistan and thus failed to advance to the semi-finals of the Olympic qualifier in Muscat, Oman.

The most natural thing for MHC to do is to sack the coach. But that will not provide the panacea to our ills.

The writing was on the wall when Malaysia finished sixth in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.

As world No. 14 Malaysia fell short of reaching the semi-finals and returning with only one point to show, having failed to translate their superiority into victory beginning with the 3-2 defeat to China. Despite Arul’s efforts to empower the players to help them in decision-making in game situations, the Malaysian team in Muscat that had a combined caps of 2,253 showed they could not cope with the pressure.

Athletes and coaches go through a thought process that is not understood by the average Joe.

Our thought process centres on our emotional attachment to the teams and athletes, which contribute to a sense of purpose and fulfilment for sports fans and media alike.

Malaysia is rich in sporting legacy in football, badminton and hockey – a heritage that goes way back since Merdeka. This has raised our expectations to stratospheric level.

But along the way, as Datuk Lee Chong Wei said, we began to celebrate mediocrity.

To avoid stress, we need to condition our minds.

In terms of judging their sporting prospects, unless they are consistent in climbing the podium at international level, do not expect our athletes to punch above their weight!