Sweating it out: Darren Lok (left) in action during a training session. — FAM
PETALING JAYA: There is no question that Darren Lok is one of the hardest working players in the Malaysian football team.
His tireless running and high work rate are exemplary, but there are those who quibble that all that effort should be adding up to more goals – especially when he is a striker.
And the Sabah hitman had to deal with comments and questions over whether he is concerned about his low strike rate for the Harimau Malaya, where he is the front man leading the attack.
The 33-year-old, however, has taken all those unflattering remarks on the chin as he goes about his business getting in shape with his teammates for the World Cup 2026-Asian Cup 2027 second-round qualifiers against Oman on March 21 in Muscat and in Bukit Jalil (March 26).
Darren stressed that in the modern game of football, it’s not always the striker who scores the goals.
“For me, it’s always a team effort when goals are scored. The most important thing is that the end result is a win for us, no matter who scores,” he said.
“Let’s say if there’s a situation where I score some goals but the team end up losing. I don’t think people will be talking about the goals as they’ll be busy complaining about the loss.
“I’m thankful when the other players step up and do their fair share of scoring. I’m so happy to see Mickey (Faisal Halim) scoring or Romel (Morales) finding the net, especially when we also win.
“I agree that a striker’s job is to score goals but I think that people can see that I also offer something more – like creating space and chances for the other attacking players.”
Darren has been training in the national centralised camp since March 8 and is expected to play a key role in the two matches against Oman.
Coach Kim Pan-gon has been emphasising much on fitness, as most of the players have not had any matches to play since January.
They are undergoing gruelling drills as the South Korean wants to ensure his charges are physically fit to take on Oman, ranked 80th in the world and coached by former Czech Republic tactician Jaroslav Silhavy.
Darren added: “We know the importance of these two games but they have not come at the right time for us. We are entering the pre-season and the league has not started.
“But by the time the match comes around, we would have had two weeks of training and that will be enough to be at the level we want to be.
“As for the training sessions, yes, we are being pushed to the core. It is tough but we try to adapt quickly as we want to be strong physically and mentally.”
