Malaysian football has always been Like That

I am quite entertained to see Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) getting rammed by the throat, be it from running the game in the country right up to its poor secretariat staff (pity Saifuddin and Kelly, my ex-colleagues) after that 5-0 shame to UAE.

The rot has been there long time ago and coach B. Sathianathan is a brave man even though I am sure he has one leg already out of FAM's HQ in Kelana Jaya. He just did the right thing of calling a spade, a spade! What wrong did he do?

Tell me, if you are in his position with three fit players, wouldn't you get freaked out, knowing that even if 11 players were fit, media will still roast you...but three...

I like what the jovial Eric Samuel of Star said in his comment piece that everything will be discussed at the all powerful FAM Exco but knowing the members, things will be back to normal in no time, meaning this incident or happening will just continue even when I am 50 unless some sort of power could be clipped from the state affiliates. At the end of the day, the states need to play an important role but when you get half past six players from the states, what can the national coach do?

I think the only thing we can do is to work from down to the top. Let us not stray too far but look at Japan and Korea in terms of development. Why waste time sending our boys for trials or training at EPL clubs? Where is our R.O.I.? How many boys benefited and came back as half decent players?

I think if our players can even play in the J-League, K-League or even in Saudi Arabia or UAE's leagues, then its a major step in football for us. It is a know fact that MSL is crap, full stop. Why do our powers that be pretend its not by hauling up Sathia and even criticizing him in the media? Let's look at the AFC Cup for instance. This is a second tier tournament and til today, has any MSL side gone to the final? Why none of our state teams focus on this tournament, why just be contend with Malaysia Cup, FA Cup and the league title? From the attitude shown here, we know that state teams are the main culprits. When was the last time I heard a Malaysian players was coveted by foreign teams, why no one has moved abroad?

The signs are always there about the sad state of local football but we are of course oblivious to it until a crushing defeat hits our team. All in say is, football needs political will and a massive dose of 'unity' by getting the Chinese and Indians back in the game. Without them, our team will continue this downward spiral. Mark my words, one race teams never succeed!