Ivar Jenner (left) dribbles past a South Korean player during their quarter-final encounter. - Photo by AFC
PETALING JAYA: While Malaysia wallowed in self-recrimination, Indonesia are looking at a glorious chance to make it to the Olympics.
The Indonesian youngsters just need one more win after shocking the region by beating South Korea in the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup quarter-finals to make their only second appearance in the Games after the 1964 edition.
They beat the tournament favourites 11-10 in a penalty shootout after holding them to a 2-2 draw in regulation time at the Abdullah Bin Khalifah Stadium on Thursday.
Indonesia, who are debutants in the tournament, will now play in the semi-final and just need to beat Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals to qualify for the Olympics.
Malaysia had gone into the tournament aiming for the semi-finals but Indonesia, under South Korean Shin Tae-yong, defied the odds to leave Malaysia looking on enviously.
But envy is not something seasoned Malaysian pros are having. Instead, they believe the country should take a page out of Indonesia’s playbook as the neighbours slowly assert themselves in the continental stage.
Former national striker Safee Sali, who once played in the Indonesian League for Pelita Jaya, said Indonesia’s players have good top-level exposure thanks to their leagues.
“When I played in Indonesia, they had lots of talented players and the number of professional clubs was huge. In the league, they have lots of teams in the top division, 18 to be precise and then you have the other divisions, where they have 20-28 teams,” said Safee, who won the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup with Malaysia.
“What do we have in Malaysia? From 14 teams, we only have 13 now in the Super League. It only hampers our youngsters from having lots of top-level games. Footballers need game minutes to build experience and also explore their game.
“We need more clubs, our league has to be even more competitive including the other divisions, we need more teams.”
Former Harimau Muda midfielder D. Kenny Pallraj feels Indonesia have been doing the right thing in their selection of players, especially the mixed-heritage players. Most of them play in top-level competitions in Europe.
Some of the mixed heritage players who have impressed are Ivar Jenner, who plays for Dutch club Utrecht, Rafael Struick of ADO Den Haag and Nathan Tjoe-A-On from Heerenveen.
“They made sure they selected those with great quality to enhance the squad,” said Kenny, who is with Kuala Lumpur in the Super League.
“Their grassroots development has also been good. They had a major breakdown in the past when their national team did not perform well. They realised the problem, worked on their grassroots and made sure to bring in lots of young players into the national team. Most of their Under-23 players have lots of national caps.”
Malaysia, he said, had quality players but they needed to play more often.
“If MFL come up with a rule where each team will have to play at least two to three Under-23 players in the first 11, they will have exposure for higher intensity matches,” he said.
“We have to develop maturity and for that to happen, we need exposure.
“The goals we conceded in the tournament came from silly mistakes. Those things would not happen if the players had more experience.”
