Borak Bola

NOTICE

2007-08-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

BorakBola is giving technology a big hug and we are migrating this blog into our own dot com domain. Within this week, we will move from blogspot to www.borakbola.com where we hope regal you with better lay-outs and sleek designs to our website. Our aim is to improve your reading experience. Heck, we also want to be seen a cool. Once the migration process is completed, we will continue to update on the new domain instead of here.

We are quite excited about this. Note that prior to this we don't know anything about html, domain registration etc, let alone webhosting and webdesign. But we have been learning on the go (and at our age, the progress is pretty slow). So bear with us if the new website's transformation is less than satisfactory. We will try our best and what we want is to provide an enjoyable reading experience for everyone.

Majulah Sukan Untuk Negara

A New Era

2007-08-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Check out FAM's new webTV at www.interactivepixel.com/famwebtv

A good start to make the site more updated. We wished that there are more info in the webTV site so that we know who we are watching or what they were talking about. But a good attempt by FAM nevertheless., we'll give them that.

Check out our future, the kids from the Under-19/20 (K Rajagobal's boys) including captain of the U-20 squad that took second place in the recent AFF U20 Championship in Vietnam, K Gurusamy.

Best of all, watch the highlights from Malaysia's two games in the 1980 Merdeka Invitational Tournament (in all black & white, dodgy hairdo's and tight shorts et al). In the Korea game, check out Hassan Sani's blistering run that lead to James Wong superb's goal. If that won't give you goosebumps, then you are not Malaysian.

There's Another Word For Unpaid Employees

2007-08-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

Not to be pedantic, but in a way they are called slaves. Funny that, with the country nearing it's 50th year of Independence, we'd think that we've abolished such primitive practice of slavery by now.

Which goes to prove that although the country has progressed, many of the people in it are still stuck in past, with primitive mindset and thinking. BorakBola wanted to talk about this before, but SO MANY things are happening with football in this country that we just couldn't get to it. But after reading a similar story cropping up again, we just have to report this.

We are talking about how football professionals in this country, especially what is happening to players from Sarawak and now, Pahang, are not being paid their wages for months.

Before this it was reported in the local dailies that Sarawak football players have not received their wages for the last 5 months. So much so that the team risked not being able to play in some away matches as they couldn't afford the flight costs.

Malaysian side face uncertain future over unpaid rent

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 - Cash-strapped Malaysian Super League strugglers Sarawak face an uncertain future after they were almost banned from using their own stadium because of unpaid rent.

Sarawak, bottom of the 13-team league, owe millions of ringgit in back rent to the board of the Sarawak Stadium in Kuching, according to The Star newspaper.

Players were only allowed to train at the stadium on Monday after paying the 100-ringgit ($30) daily fee. The team were hit by another blow when they lost chief coach Pengiran Bala, a health department official who was recalled by the regional city council.

Sarawak have only seven points from 18 Super League matches and are favourites to be relegated at the end of the season.

Only one team will drop down this year while two teams from the Premier League will be promoted, boosting next season's Super League to 14 teams
Taken from Soccernet

It was so bad that a special charity match had to be arranged to collect funds to help the players. And some Good Samaritan turned up during training session and donated money to the players

Businessman comes to Sarawak’s aid
JOHOR BARU: Cash-strapped Sarawak, battling to stay alive in the Super League, received a pleasant surprise from a Good Samaritan who turned up at the team’s training session in Kuching on Tuesday to hand out RM1,000 to each player and team official.

Abang Adiqa Jaya forked out a total of RM24,000 for 21 players and three officials with high hopes that the Crocs will get a positive result in their penultimate match in the league against Johor FC in Pasir Gudang tonight.

Sarawak and Malacca are the two teams battling to avoid the lone relegation spot to the Premier League. Sarawak are in 12th place on 10 points – one point more than Malacca. The Crocs will be at home in their final fixture against leaders Perak on Saturday.

Sarawak’s caretaker coach Wahit Uji was more than pleased with the monetary contribution from the managing director of Adiqa Engineering. Earlier, the company had also contributed RM20,000 for the team’s trip to Johor Baru for the match against Johor FC.

It will be Sarawak’s first trip to the peninsula after calling off their Malaysia Cup Group C match against Pahang in Kuantan on May 26 because of financial constraints. Sarawak FA president Nyipa Tinggang later admitted that the association were broke.

Last Saturday, former coach Awang Mahyan Muhamad organised a charity match between Sarawak’s “Ngap Sayot” team of old and a selection of former national players at the Sarawak Stadium in Kuching to raise funds to help pay the salaries of the players.

The players had gone without salaries for the last five months but less than RM5,000 was raised at the match, which was not even enough to pay for the airfare, board and lodging for the peninsula-based former internationals led by Datuk Soh Chin Aun.

Said Wahit: “For the time being the salary issue takes a back seat for us. The players are ready to do battle to avoid the drop. They still have pride and dignity to keep the Sarawak flag flying.

“It is heartening to note that there are still many who want to help Sarawak football. Abang Adiqa is a good example.

“His generosity has certainly lifted the spirits of the players. They were pleasantly surprised to receive the money. The players have vowed to go all out in the remaining two matches.”

Wahit took charge of the team after Pengiran Bala was recalled by his employers, Miri City Council.
Taken from The Star

And now, Kosmo! reported that Pahang players have not been paid their salaries for several months.

Pahang players not paid salaries
Pahang's football players are living under a lot of stress. No, they are not facing any Cup final. They just have not received their salaries for several months. Some are facing lawsuits of various kinds while others have received letters that their cars would be repossessed.

Some of the players have also been evicted from their rented homes. “The players are only staying at home. We have no money to go anywhere,” one player told the daily.

“If I think of my future, I feel it is better for me to try out a new team but if I think of my love for the state, then I certainly want to remain here,” he said.

Pahang FA secretary-general Ahmad Nazri Mat Nor told Kosmo! that the association was making efforts to settle the issue of salaries.

“We have to find other financial resources to solve the problem,” he said, adding that part of the payment had been made to the players.

Ahmad Nazri said the association lacked funds this year due to poor ticket sales.

“If they keep losing, their fans will not want to turn up at the stadium,” he said.
Taken from Kosmo!

Need we remind which state's Sultan is also the President of the FAM?

What's going on? What happened to the funds that each state FAs should have before the domestic season begins? What's going on with the management of these FAs? Surely the goverment, despite the directives by FIFA for governments not to interfere with the country footballing's issues, have to do something. The people responsible must be brought forward and punished. These players are not children, or animals. They have families to take care of, children to feed, bills to pay. How could after so many years that the league in the country have gone professional that this is happening? Something must be done to tackle this now. The players must be protected.

And this is not the first time it has happened. For example, David Mitchell, former Selangor player, left Sarawak when he was coaching the team due to unpaid wages. And best of all MPPJ FC, 2003 Malaysia Cup champion, went bust in 2006. And they had a budget of RM 14 million. But they couldn't pay their players as well for two or three months, so much so that top hotshot, Juan Manuel Arostegui and also Juan Carlos Alberto had to walked our of their team and leave the country for good.

These are all, if we look at it, mismanagement and corruption. But are those people responsible taken to task?

We have even spoken to national players who told us about allowances been given late, sometimes over a few months. For example, according to one player, the national players' allowances from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Tournament this year, which was played in January and February 2007, was only given to players in the week leading up to the 2007 AFC Asian Cup competition - five months down the line!

Something has to be done, and must be done now.

Khaider Is FAS President
KUCHING, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Khaider Ahmad Zaidel has been unanimously elected to head the debt-stricken Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) while Serian Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Richard Riot Jaem was elected the deputy-president at the association's Annual General Meeting (AGM) here Thursday.

Speaking to the media after the AGM, the 61-year-old lawyer who succeeded businessman Nyipa Tinggang said his first priority was to ensure that all the Sarawak players playing in the Super League now, including the foreign imports, would get their salary by next month or in October.

"I was made to understand that FAS owed the players about seven months in salary amounting to RM600,000," he said, adding that his other priorities would be discussing with the newly elected FAS council members a new strategy as well as making a courtesy call to the Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Looking calm and composed, Khaider said despite the barrage criticisms by the local media and fans following Sarawak's poor performance in the Super League and the ongoing financial problem, FAS would remain positive and was prepared to hold a series of talks with the relevant parties on the best way to rejuvenate the Sarawak football development.

Describing the present FAS situation as "a sinking ship" that needed to be "floated up" urgently, Khaider who also the former FAS honorary secretary from 1984 to 1990 said he was prepared to face the arduous task together with the other council members.

Earlier when addressing the FAS' affiliates after the election, Khaider said FAS would study the association's assets and liabilities to determine the actual cause for the FAS financial problems and seek ways to settle them.

He said that one of the reasons FAS was in the red now was largely due to the fact that operating expenditures exceeded the low gate collection.

He promised the problems would be look into immediately and hinted the possibility of making drastic changes in the present senior squad which fortunately avoided relegation to the Premier League despite the thumping 2-4 defeat to Perak at the Sarawak Stadium last night.

Apart from the president and deputy-president, the AGM also elected Rakawi Ibrahim, Khamis Tuah, Paruwadi Musa, Fadzil Taman and Razali Dolhan as vice-presidents.
Taken from BERNAMA

National Football Awards

2007-08-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Khalid Jamlus among front-runners for National Football Awards

Perak's Khalid Jamlus and Selangor's Akmal Rizal Rakhli are among the front-runners for the favourite striker award for the M-League 100Plus National Football Awards to be held on Sept 9.

Khalid is best local performer in the Super League this season scoring 15 goals for his team.

Among the other players nominated for the favourite striker award are Pahang's Indra Putra Mahayuddin, Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan of Johor FC and Azlan Ismail of Perlis.

Meanwhile, this season's Super League top scorer Keita Mandjou who plays for Perak is the overwhelming favourite for the most valuable foreign player award.

The Guinean striker scored 21 goals for Perak in the Super League this season.

The other awards which will be given out are for favourite goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, coach and most promising player.

List of Nominees

Goalkeeper: Nasril Nourdin (Prk), Megat Amir Faizal (Sel), Sharbinee Allawee (Ter), Suffian Abdul Rahman (TMFC), Helmi Eliza Elias (Ked), Norazlan Razali (Johor PBT), Irwan Jamil (Sab), Abdul Rahman Ismail (Pol), Farizal Marlias (Shahzan Muda), Faizal Rashid (UPB-My Team)

Defender: Victor Andrang (Ked), Mat Saiful Mohamad (Pen), Khairi Zainudin (Prk), Shukri Ismail (Johor PBT), Hairul Nizam Haniff (TMFC), Norhafiz Zamani Misbah (Pah), Marzuki Yusof (Ter), Ronny Harun (Sab), P. Gunalan (Sel), Kaironnisam Sahabudin (UPB-My Team)

Midfielder: Hardi Jaafar (TMFC), Shukor Adan (Sel), Ahmad Fauzi Shaari (Ked), K. Nanthakumar (Prk), Eddy Helmi Abdul Manan (Johor FC), Azlan Ismail (Per), Kairul Ismail (Johor PBT), Reeshafiq Alwi (KL), Norfarhan Muhamad (Ter), Raymos Sari (Swk).

Striker: Khalid Jamlus (Prk), Akmal Rizal Rakhli (Sel), Safee Sali (Sel), Indra Putra Mahayuddin (Pah), Haris Safwan Kamal (UPB-My Team), Zainuddin Ariffin (TMFC), Hairuddin Omar (Pah), Cik Hishammudin Hassan (Ter), Liew Kit Kong (N. Sembilan), Hasmawi Hassan (Ked).

Most Valuable Player- Local: Shukor Adan (Sel), Ahmad Shahrul Azhar (Prk), Victor Andrang (Ked), Hardi Jaafar (TMFC), Kaironnisam Sahabudin (UPB-My Team).

Most Valuable Player – Foreign: Phillimon Chepita (Per), Marlon Alex James (Ked), Keita Mandjou (Prk), Walter Ariel Silva (Johor FC), Marin Mikac (UPB -My Team).

Most Promising Player: Khyril Muhymeen (Ked), Sabre Mat Abu (Ked), Safiq Rahim (Sel), Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak (N. Sembilan), Zaquan Adha Abdul Razak (N. Sembilan)

Coach: Dollah Salleh (Selangor), Ahmad Yunus Alif (Terengganu), Steve Darby (Prk), Abdul Rahman Ibrahim (Per), Azraai Khor Abdullah (Ked), Azuan Mohd Zain (Johor PBT), Abdul Rahim Ahmad (Kel), Mat Zan Mat Aris (KL), K. Thaiyanathan (Pol), Bojan Hodak (UPB-My Team).

Update: Merdeka Invitational - Lesotho and Zimbabwe Pulls Out

2007-08-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lesotho and Zimbabwe confirmed on the last day for the deadline to submit the players list that they WOULD NOT be able to participate in the upcoming 39th Merdeka Invitational Tournament.

According to FAM, both countries were unable to provide the teams due to flight and visa problems.

This means, the total number of teams that will now play in the tournament will be just six teams instead of eight. As such, changes had to be made to the groupings which now sees Malaysia in Group A alongside holders Myanmar and Laos while Group B will be consist of Bangladesh, Singapore and Indonesia.

Earlier, Thailand also declined to participate in the tournament which will run from 19 August to 29 August.

Kedah Takes Super League

2007-08-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, in the domestic scene, FA Cup champs Kedah won the Super League. BorakBola can't report much on the domestic scene because we are so confused which league is what and who's in what and who plays when. All we know is that our favourite team, Selangor, didn't win anything yet so who cares? *grin*

Super League Champs, Kedah

An example of how funny the fixtures and arrangement for the local league is this: yesterday Kedah played in the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Cup and won 6-1. Against, guess who? Melaka.

No disrespect to Melaka but how the hell does a team that only won two games this season, collecting only 9 points, managed to qualify to the quarter-finals of the biggest competition in the country? Macam mana tak kena belasah dengan Kedah?

However, we must say that there must be something good with youth football development in Kedah so something can be learned here from the Kedah FA. Datuk Basri must be smiling somewhere.

Tahniah Hijau Kuning! Now with the FA Cup and Super League title under their belt, they'd be looking for a unique treble as they are still very much the favourites to lift the Malaysia Cup as well.

By the way, for the record, we don't agree with the bit below about having Kedah's keeper as the national number one. Pleaselah. Not after what he did to Akmal. (oh yes, we remember mate!) Bring back Syamsuri anytime instead of the young punk. And who cares if he conceded less than Azizon. Azizon had a crap defence in front of him. If you are talking about goals conceded, perhaps we should also throw Sabah's Irwan Jamil into the equation. No, we can't just go by stats alone.

Azraai heeds destiny’s call
Fourteen years ago, Khor Sek Leng was just an up and coming tactician, assisting Robert Alberts to create history with a bunch of players from the second division. Now known as Azraai Khor Abdullah, Sek Leng may just go one step better than his mentor as Kedah eye a clean sweep of the domestic football titles.

In 1992, Alberts helped guide Kedah to the then Division 2 title and a place in the Malaysia Cup final —the first time a team from the lower division had contested Malaysia's oldest and most coveted crown.

A year later, Alberts worked his magic again as Kedah took home the Division 1 title and then went on to win the Malaysia Cup. In those days, Alberts could rely on Ahmad Sobri Ismail to keep a clean sheet, Lim Teong Kim to boss the midfield and Peter Nieketien and Olubunmi Adigun to knock in the goals.

Fast forward to the present day and Azraai can’t help but feel it is his destiny to win the Malaysia Cup for Kedah, but this time as their head coach. A year ago, he helped the unheralded team sweep all before them in the Premier League, which in essence is the Division 2 of Malaysian football.

This year, just like Alberts, Azraai has followed up that feat by winning the top division — the now renamed Super League.

Like his mentor, Azraai too, has a core of players he can depend on to guide his team. In goal he has the ever reliable Mohd Helmi Eliza, who many would say should have been the national No 1 for the just concluded Asian Cup instead of Negri’s Azizon Abd Kadir.

Going by stats alone, he should be as Helmi only conceded 21 goals while Azizon, or Bob to his pals, saw the ball whizz pass him 46 times.

In midfield it is Nelson Martin plotting the moves while Marlon James and Haswawi Hassan bang in the goals.

Kedah ’s feat in winning the league crown came after a titanic battle with Perak.

But a 1-0 victory over Brunei DPMM on Saturday, courtesy of a K. Soley goal meant the Hijau Kuning outfit claimed the top prize with 55 points. Perak, who defeated Sarawak 4-2, finished second two points behind while DPMM were third on 44 points.

Malacca, who were defeated 3-1 by Selangor, were relegated to the Premier League.

It was an especially cruel night for Perak hotshot Khalid Jamlus. Snubbed by the national team, he fired a perfect retort with three well-taken goals at Sarawak Stadium but to no avail.

Keita Mandjou added the other goal for Perak, his 21st of the season to make him joint top scorer with Brunei DPMM’s Shahrazain Said.

Kedah, who also won the FA Cup when they defeated Perlis in June, play Malacca in the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals on Thursday as they aim for an unpredecented treble.

“It ’s a dream come true to win the league as 14 years ago, I was just the assistant when Kedah won the title for the last time, ” said an elated Azraai, after arriving in Alor Star yes- t e rda y.

“Now that we have won the league and FA Cup, we will do our best to make it a clean sweep by winning the Malaysia Cup, though that is easier said than done.”
Taken from The Malay Mail

Malaysia Loses in Final AFF U20

2007-08-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Vietnam won the ASEAN Football Federation Under-20 Championship with a solitary goal in the first half. Apparently the rain-sodden field at the Thanh Long Sports Complex in Ho Chi Minh City did not allow for free-flowing football but the host, naturally they must've been supported well there, made full use of the situation anyway.

Malaysia's main fault, if we can point it out in this tournament, has been their slowness to get into the game as they have been guilty in this match as well as in their previous matches to concede early on in the game. In this particular case, Vietnam scored in the 8th minute after a poor clearance header from Muhamad Irfan Ghani. Their 'Bollywood Heroics' which helped them before eluded them this time around.

According to reports from the AFF website, the goal was a "paltry reward for their domination of the match where they enjoyed abundant possession that their forwards however could not leverage for maximum advantage" and that "In the first half, the Malaysian attack was virtually non-existent, the team unable to string more than two passes together".

Well, we don't know about the host, but (and we are going to defend our boys here), we are sure the conditions was poor for our boys to play. Now, unless we start to train the Malaysian juniors to play in the paddy fields, losing one goal in the final, (although it must've been heartbreaking for them poor kids), considering the conditions, should not break their spirit too much. They should really be proud of themselves and keep their heads high.

If the Goddamn KLIA wasn't too far from KL (or expensive to reach), we'd be scooting our asses to the airport to welcome the kids back. (We miss you Subang!)

BorakBola was taught to call a spade a spade so well done to the Under-20s get this far in the first place. And good job so far Mr K Rajagobal. Keep it up, maintain good, quality training (and for God sakes you don't need to fly the kids overseas to train!) and improve their tactical knowledge and work on the defence and concentration a bit, and the future doesn't look to dim after all.

Apparently, Malaysia tried harder in the second half to get equaliser, but they were unlucky.

In the third and fourth placing, Thailand finised third after defeating previous champion Myanmar 2-0.

However, we want to confirm something. In Utusan Malaysia, the report quoted Datuk Redzuan Sheik Ahmad as saying that the 'national squad displayed an energetic performance and created many dangerous chances' ("Timbalan Presiden Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM), Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad ketika bercakap kepada Utusan Malaysia berkata, skuad negara mempamerkan persembahan bertenaga menerusi banyak percubaan berbahaya ke gawang lawan"). So how come the news from AFF is so negative towards the Malaysian squad? So which one is which? Only who actually saw the match will know. Whatever it is, like we said earlier, we are sure the boys played their hearts out (we really hope so) and while they should be proud of their performance, they must keep their feet on the ground and see this as a stepping stone for future success.

Tahniah! Ayuh, cuba lagi Malaysia!

Champions Youth Cup Kicks-Off

2007-08-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, here in Malaysia (Kuching specifically), the Malaysia Under-19 squad or The Maggi Boys started their CYC campaign with a 1-2 loss to Bayern Munich. The Flying Dutchman is apparently quite happy with this.

Champions Youth Cup: Bayern overpower Malaysia
German giants Bayern Munich defeated Malaysia 2-1 in a Champions Youth Cup (CYC) Group D match at the Sarawak Stadium yesterday.

In another group match at the same venue, PSV Eindhoven beat Chelsea 1-0.

While the scoreline would suggest a close match, it was the opposite as Bayern took control of the match against Malaysia from the start and wasted a hatful of chances.

Malaysia were forced to play deep and it was only in the 17th minute that they had a look at the Bayern goal,

Badrul Bakhtir’s freekick forced Bayern keeper Ferdinand Oswald to punch clear the ball.
The Germans, who kept getting closer and closer, finally scored in the 37th minute when Gianluca Simari showed great composure to side-foot home a first time shot off a cross from Yannick Kakako.

Malaysia performed more decently in the second half and saw more of the ball and their positive play was rewarded in the 55th minute when Bunyamin Umar played a cross to Badrol Bakthir, who in turn, crossed the ball across the face of goal, leading to an under-pressure Bayern captain Bjorn Kopplin sending the ball into his own net.

That got the crowd roaring but there was not to be a famous Malaysian victory as Bayern scored their winner through Diego Contento in the 70th minute. Unmarked, Contento chested the ball from a freekick and slotted into the net from close range.

Still, a happy Malaysia coach Robert Alberts said: "We played against a world class team. Many people expected us to be thrashed, but the boys showed that they can play."
Taken from the New Straits Times

Disclaimer Before The Tourney

2007-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

CYC Not Yardstick To Check Malaysian Youth's Development, Says Alberts

KUCHING, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- The Champions Youth Cup (CYC) soccer tournament to be held from Aug 8 to 12 will not be a yardstick to measure the success of Malaysia's youth development programme, said Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Technical Director, Robert Alberts.

Speaking to the media here today, Alberts, who is also the coach of the Malaysia Under-19 team that will be playing in the tournament, said the CYC will provide clues and answers as to the future of the players in the squad and ways to improve their standards.

"We know our standard, just see how our Under-16 team was defeated 0-5 by the Arsenal youth team. This tournament (CYC) is not a yardstick of measurement on our development programme," he said.

He said that after the tournament ended it would hopefully provide a clear direction on the preparation for the national senior and junior squads.

He added that at the moment he was not under tremendous pressure despite having handled the team for only three-weeks as his focus now was to ensure the team can play at their best level.

Malaysia are in Group D in the tournament together with favourites Chelsea, Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven. They play their first match against Bayern Munich on Wednesday at the Sarawak Stadium here.
Taken from BERNAMA

MyTeam 2 v Indonesia

2007-08-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Get this right, we are no fans of Son-in-Law, but if he can change the state of the football in this country, go ahead by all means. Country before personal feelings we say. At the end of the day, results on the fields matter (somehow we feel we might regret saying this now). And the performance of UPB-MyTeam in the Premier League makes his report card all nice and pretty. UPB-MyTeam finished second in the league, with the second best defensive record (only 16 goals conceeded) and second best strike-rate (29 goals scored).

BUT that won't change the fact that BorakBola still consider the current MyTeam2 selections as a big, publicity-sponge, circus show. Sorry Jason Lo, we like you as a person, football player, DJ and musician but what is MyTeam2 trying to prove again this time?

Those of you who spent time in Mars during the previous MyTeam incarnation can read all about MyTeam here

When we were in Jakarta for the AFC Asian Cup finals two weeks ago, we managed to speak to the technical staff of the Indonesian National Team and we asked whether they were really coming to Malaysia to play MyTeam2 (as ads on TV were already promoting the match) but they said they received no such notice from the management yet. We supposed at that time, negotiations were still in progress.

Yesterday Jason Lo announced that 'in principle', the management of the Timnas, PSSI (Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia) has agreed to send a full squad to play in the 'friendly' against ~~Circus Team~~ MyTeam 2.

The match will be on 21 October 2007 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

There's Still A Light - U20 qualifies for AFF Final

2007-08-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the future is not too dim after all! While everyone back home is fussing about the Under-19 (The Maggi Boys) starting their Champions Youth Cup assignment tomorrow evening and the Under-23 (The Travelling Boys) playing 'guess who's our next opponent here in Slovakia?' game (see here), K Rajagobal Under-20 boys are creating waves by qualifying for the final (yes, the final!) of the ASEAN Football Federation Under-20 Championship (what we call the Tiger Cubs Cup) in Vietnam.

After qualifying for the knock-out round in a typical, come-back-from-behind ala Bollywood heroes kind of way (read our short report here), the U20 were slated to meet Group A leader Thailand in the semis yesterday evening.

Thailand steamrolled through their group, scoring 15 goals and letting in only 1 goal by winning in their games against Brunei (5-0) and Cambodia (7-0) and drawing with host Vietnam (1-1) and are favourites to win the Championship.

Malaysia, who according to coach K Rajagobal, "can play well up to the midfield but beyond that, they struggle due to the lack of calibre strikers", still managed to score 11 times in the group match, which is 3 more goals than leaders Myanmar.

Banking on the trio of captain K. Gurusamy, Ahmad Fakri Saarani and Abdul Shukur Yusuf, the U20 has done well to qualify for the finals, emulating the same achievement in the previous tournament, something their Senior brothers are unable to do in the Tiger Cup since 1996. The trio were the only players in the team with experience at the international level as they have been a consistent performer under Rajagobal where they featured in his plans in last year’s AFC Under-20 Championship in India.

Firdaus Azizul (Left - Scored against Singapore) and Fakri Saarani (R)

In the semi-final game at the Thanh Long Sports Comples in Ho Chi Minh City, Malaysia defeated Thailand 2-1 with goals from Ahmad Fakri Saarani and Yusaini Che Saad. With this win, Malaysia will now meet Vietnam who defeated defending champion Myanmar in the other semi-final.

For the record, Malaysia finished as runners-up to Myanmar after losing 0-1 in the last tournament in Palembang, Indonesia.

K Rajagobal has mentioned that the AFF U20 Championship is to prepare the boys for a more important mission, the Under-19 Asian Cup Qualifiers in October. For the qualifiers, Malaysia has been grouped in Group F alongside North Korea, China, Macau, Singapore and Timor Leste.

In the finals of the Under-19 Asian Cup last year, Malaysia (also coached by Rajagobal finished last in the group which also included Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam

Well done boys, GOOD LUCK for the finals!

Let's Play A Game

2007-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

The game is called, "guess who's our next opponent here in Slovakia?"

Opening Against Partizanske

7th August 2007 – The Malaysian national Under-23 team will begin their tour of Slovakia with a match against Second Division side Partizanske tomorrow.

Head coach B. Sathianathan said that with the cancellation of the game against Vion FC – following the latter’s qualification into the EUFA Cup – the decision has been made to confirm three other matches against First Division teams from Slovakia.

“The team is training into its sixth day here with the weather warm and dry,” said Sathianathan (pic).

“Training emphasis is on physical work in the morning with the afternoon spent on tactical. Norfarhan (Mohamad) is injured from an old injury and he is getting his treatment here.”

Apart from the game against Partizanske tomorrow, the First Divisions matches for the U23 team are Nitra (10th August), Sala FC (14th August) and Slovan Bratislava (15th August).

“After looking at their League games, I am very sure that the above teams are very strong and will test our players to the maximum,” added Sathianathan.

“I am going to test all the players and pick my probable team for the games against Sala FC on the 14th.”
Taken from FAM's website

Under-15

2007-08-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

BorakBola reported here that our Under-15 lads under Mr Who? are right now in England to ~~enjoy the late English summer~~ participate in the age-group competition which started on 29th July.

12 teams took part in the tournament which ended last Sunday.

Group A were Eldon Celtic (Berkshire), Cobham FC (Surrey), Actual Soccer (London) and Soccer Pro (Portugal) while Group B were Links FC (Surrey), Brunswick Youth (London), Bidvest Wits JFC (South Africa) and CD Guadiaro (SPAIN)

Malaysia were in Group C up against Beaconsfield FC (Berkshire), Pinnacle Youth (London) and Rorsjostaden (Sweden).

In fact, since the U15 were actually represented by the Bukit Jalil Sports School, the competition itself saw 'Malaysia' identified as 'Bukit Jalil Sports School' instead of 'Malaysia Under-15'. We assume this means that if the kids lost to some foreign academy or club then the defeat would not be too difficult to swallow. Technically, that makes it that 'Malaysia' didn't actually lose, only BJSS did. *phew*. That makes it alright then.

Okay, here comes the confusing part. Take a look at the results stated in the website for the Youth Tournament itself here and then compare it with the news from FAM itself. So which one is which? Did the U15 made it to the final or not?

Denied by Actual Soccer
6th August 2007 – The Malaysian national Under-15’s fabulous run in an age-group competition in London ended in the semi-finals yesterday when they lost out 1-2 to Actual Soccer.

The Malaysian lads had sailed through the preliminary round of the competition over the last week when they picked up seven points from three matches.

They drew with Pinnacle Youth 0-0 in their first game before beating Beaconsfield 6-1 in their second match and then a 1-0 victory over Rorsjostaden IF of Sweden in their final group tie.

They then overcame Brunswick 2-1 in the quarter-finals for the right to play against Actual Soccer in the last four.

“It was a little unfortunate not to be able to make the finals when we were so close but that’s football. The boys will just have to take the positive lessons from this tournament and develop from here,” added Aminuddin Hussin, the head coach of the Malaysian national Under-15 team from London.
Taken from FAM's website

King of Excuses

2007-08-07T10:36:00.001-07:00

As long as the power-crazy King Yob is still anywhere near Wisma FAM, Malaysian football will remain where it is - the pits.

Fans Will Be Torn Between Malaysia Cup And CYC Matches Tomorrow

Oversight, ignorance or sheer arrogance... whatever you want to call it, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) remains defiant of the fact that the biggest youth football spectra - the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) - will begin tomorrow.

Despite the fact that Malaysia are hosting and playing the opening match of the CYC tomorrow against Bayern Munich in Kuching, the FAM has decided to go ahead with the Malaysia Cup fixtures scheduled tomorrow.

"We have no choice but to go ahead with the Malaysia Cup matches as any delay will offset our plans to have the final before the fasting month which is expected to begin on Sept 13.

"Furthermore, when the fixtures were set, the CYC dates were not finalised," FAM Competition Chairman Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar told Bernama when contacted today.

Tomorrow, the first leg of the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals will see three matches, namely Selangor vs Terengganu (Shah Alam Stadium), Negeri Sembilan vs Sabah (Paroi Stadium, Seremban), Perlis vs Perak (Utama Stadium, Kangar).

The Kedah vs Melaka was however postponed to Thursday as both the Darul Aman Stadium and the Hang Jebat Stadium are being used for the CYC. The second leg takes place on Aug 15.

The CYC is an Under-19 tournament that features 14 top clubs in the world together with host Malaysia and the Qatar national team.

The FAM general secretary, Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad when contacted refused to comment on the clash of fixtures and asked this reporter to speak to the Competitions Committee instead.

Last Thursday, Bernama had highlighted the clash of dates to Raja Ahmad and forwarded a Short Message Service (SMS) message to Dr Ibrahim who did not answer a number of calls earlier.

According to Raja Ahmad, a meeting was held subsequently but it was decided that it would be too late to make any changes as the final had been fixed for Sept 8.

The CYC which kicks-off tomorrow ends on Aug 19.
Taken from BERNAMA

Full of Amnesiac Morons (F.A.M)

2007-08-06T09:03:00.001-07:00

Here's a very good articles by Rizal Hashim of The Malay Mail:

Sometimes we suffer from temporary amnesia. For the average Joe, the way the brain codes and stores information remains a mystery.

Likewise the FA of Malaysia remains a huge mystery, even for some who have been keeping tabs on its policies and decisions over the past two decades. Some of its leaders may be suffering from short-term or long-term memory loss, perhaps by choice.

A case in point is certainly its recently-established task force to probe the disastrous Asian Cup outing.

First of all, it is beyond anyone’s comprehension that the members of the panel are those who have been party to the decline.

FAM deputy president Datuk Redzuan Tan Sri Sheikh Ahmad is the chairman. Forming the panel are vice-presidents Datuk Anifah Aman and Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar, general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, former Perak and national youth coach M. Karathu and Windsor John, FIFA Development offi cer based in Malaysia and who was formerly the head of research and development of FAM. Windsor, since then, has withdrawn.

The secretary is E.R. Subramaniam, a salaried staff of FAM since 2001. National coach Norizan Bakar, manager Anifah, independent writer Lazarus Rokk and FAM technical director Robert Alberts will submit their reports to the Task Force.

Grouse No 1 – None of them are entirely independent of FAM, with some having business links with the national body.

Grouse No 2 – The public is getting impatient, restless and tired of FAM’s committees.

If Redzuan can recall, an independent task force was formed to look into the Under-23 team’s 7-0 drubbing by Thailand in August 2005. It did not recommend for coach Bertalan Bicskei to be axed and instead he be allowed to continue until the Manila SEA Games. What did Redzuan and his cohorts do? They sacked Bicskei.

Grouse No 3 – Redzuan announced FAM’s desire to gather feedback from the public.

This must be one of the biggest jokes of the century. If Redzuan and the rest had bothered to read the papers and watch prime time TV, they would have gotten the signal by now. Bucketful of letters to editors, text messages, e-mails and “live” phone calls, concluded that FAM top brass must resign en bloc. That is the only way to start afresh.

Let’s not debate whether a mass resignation would serve any purpose or not.

Grouse No 4 – Perhaps Redzuan failed to advise the members of the task force of a forum held eight years ago. For the benefit of those who suffer from either short-term or long-term memory loss, a forum was organised by the National Sports Council (NSC) upon directive from the then Sports Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin, who wanted a comprehensive master plan to provide answers and panacea to our ills. Whatever happened to the resolutions?

Grouse No 5 – Let this not be the PriceWaterhouseCoopers issue Mark II, when FAM paid the audit firm more than RM200,000 in an exercise to identify the best candidate to replace Datuk Dell Akbar Khan as the general secretary in mid-2005. In the end Ibrahim, a vice-president then, was appointed. Rosli Hussein, who was identified as the man, was made the assistant general secretary but resigned in a huff last year.

Grouse No 6 – Why does it have to be two months before a report or a finding from the Asian Cup debacle be made known? Why does FAM have to wait for AFC’s technical report? FAM has a number of experts, namely Alberts, B.Sathianathan, K. Rajagopal and I. Gopalkrishnan, to name a few, to study the technical aspects of the team in Group C. Curiously, the report can only be made public after the FAM elections next month. By then the FAM new Cabinet could parade, among others, Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and UPB-MyTeam president, Khairy Jamaluddin.

Grouse No 7 – Is it true a former FAM officer was tasked to prepare a report for Ibrahim? It seemed as if it was only yesterday that FAM can boast of being the best organised and above all, the richest sports association in the country.

President Sultan Ahmad Shah and his men, the previous officebearers, mind you, had propelled the association from the archaic ranks of the mid-Eighties into the professional era.

The game evolved from the swamps of amateurism into a multi-million ringgit monster.

But this brought about a crisis of identity. A professional game of immense potential caught in the drag of amateurism and shady individuals motivated by self interest.

This task force will be another exercise in futility.
Taken from The Malay Mail

Our Own Hindustani Heroes

2007-08-06T08:18:00.001-07:00

We are still unsure what to call the Under-20 and handsome coach K Rajagobal. If you have any suggestion, please email us.

Hakim left a comment that we missed reporting a unique event where for once, we were not on the receiving end of a SEVEN goal drubbing. Nice of him to catch that news before us. Actually, BorakBola have been closely following the results from the AFF website [www.aseanfootball.org] as news from everywhere else have been scarce but even then the results at the AFF website is quite slow. So we've been slow as well to report on this.

Someone out there gasped. "What? It wasn't us who got whipped? Nooo". Well, Yes. and we'll get to that in a bit.

Okay, okay. Some of you might been left in the dark here. Allow us to explain. There is an ASEAN Football Federation U20 Tournament going on right now in Vietnam. It started on the 31st of July and involves the AFF members. Yes, you can call it the Tiger Cup for the kids. (Tiger Cub Cup? Hehehe)

The Malaysian Under-20 squad, is in Group A, along with Myanmar, Singapore and Laos. K Rajagobal is looking at this competition to allow the boys gain some exposure and experience before the AFC Qualifiers in October.

Game One: Malaysia v Singapore (1 Aug)
In the first game, K Rajagobal boys defeated Singapore 3-0 with goals from Yusanee Saad and Ahmad Fakri Saarani in the first half and Firdaus Azizul scored the third in the 63rd minute. Surprisingly (we really should be giving our boys more credit than this, but really it's a surprise), despite Singapore looked like the likelier team to score first, Malaysia scored against the run of play when Yusanee headed in from a cross while the Young Lions keeper was still alighting his MRT at Bedok.

Singapore didn't help themselves when they were down to 10 men after Nurhazwan Shaik was expelled for a second yellow card. Despite the fact that our own Muhammad Irfan Ghani was also shown the red card for a second bookable offence late in the game, Malaysia managed to hold on for the win.

Game Two: Malaysia v Myanmar (3 Aug)
In a match which was eventually to decide the top two teams from Group A, Malaysia lost narrowly after Myanmar scored from a looping freekick in the 89th minute to end the game 2-1 to Myanmar.

Captain K Gurusamy managed to level the score earlier in the 82nd minute after Myanmar had scored from another set-piece in the first half, but Malaysia were unable to ride the pressure.

This means, that Malaysia would need at least a draw in their last game with Laos to qualify for the knock-out phase. The game against Laos was played yesterday and we searched all over for the results in the local media but we couldn't find it (damn these FAM glasses!). Of course, when Hakim alerted us to it we scooted over the AFF's website and there it was...

Game Three: Malaysia v Laos (5 Aug)
The knack of coming back after conceding, (in this particular instance, twice) is surely a positive (even if it's not good for the heart) point of the U-20s.

The game started at the Thanh Long Sports Complex in Hanoi in the rain where within 5 minutes, Laos took the lead with a shot from the top of the penalty area. Laos continued with the long shot tactic throughout the first half whereas Malaysia wanted to bring the ball closer to the opposition's keeper before taking a crack on goal.

And when the sun came out and Laos failed to sustain the pressure, Malaysia's tactic proved to be fruitful and they grabbed the equaliser through Mohd Syazwan Zinon with two minutes left to the break.

Laos then scored again after the break as the Malaysian players were still digesting their halftime Powerbars but superskipper K. Gurusamy did a replay of the Myanmar game by pulling level before putting them ahead with a header after that.

With that, Laos collapsed and Malaysian opened the floodgates with goals from Abdul Shukor Jusoh (77th minute), Firdaus Azizul (82nd) and Yusaini Che Saad (89th).

In injury time Myanmar scored another goal but Malaysia made it a magnificent seven with a yet another strike through Mohd Shazlan Alias for the final scoreline of 7-3.

Yes, you didn't read wrong and we are not pulling your leg. Rajagobal boys did slam the net seven times.

Well done boys. Well done for keeping the flame alive.

Malaysia will now meet Group B leaders Thailand in the semi-final tomorrow. We wish them, the best of luck.

The Unders

2007-08-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Post Asian Cup, we continue briefly with some heartwarming news from the motley crew of The Unders - our various Unders Squads. Next week The Maggi Boys will see some action in Kuching in the CYC while, which some of us might not be aware, the Under-20 squad is braving the quirky monsoon in Vietnam for the Asean Football Federation (AFF) U20 Championship. But for this post, let's continue with the Travelling Boys.

The Travelling Boys
The Travelling Boys are, well, packing and unpacking their luggages in Europe at the moment, specifically in Slovakia where they are preparing themselves for the SEA Games which will happen in December. Remember that they will play in the Merdeka Invitational Tournament sometime later this month (from 20th August). And before they leave for Korat, they will fly to Myanmar for the Challenge Cup.

Naturally, we are still puzzled why the fascination with Slovakia for the 300-Pages Passport Man. Perhaps the birds there are lovelier than the ones we have here? Only 300-Pages Passport Man knows best.

What we know,is that despite it's a brilliant summer up there in Central Europe and the Carpathian mountains, the relative humidity there ranges around the low 30's, while back home, WHERE THE MERDEKA INVITATIONAL WILL BE HELD, the relative humidity is around 65 - 70. For you non-meteorologist out there, this means, it will be much hotter back home here in Kuala Lumpur, than it will ever be than in anywhere near Bratislava. If even before this, professional league players from teams such as Manchester United and Barcelona have complained about the humidity in this region, how clever it is to send a bunch of young kids - which we bet our asses are less fitter than the European players - to 'prepare' in Europe, when they should be conditioning themselves here instead. After all, the next three assignments are in SOUTH EAST ASIA, and the earliest one will be merely 3 weeks away!

By the way, even if the Thais are in Germany at the moment preparing themselves, they will not play in the Merdeka Tournament. Which means they don't need to condition themselves to the region that soon, plus Korat is their backyard.

What's even ironic is that the Indonesian U-23 team are coming here, yes, in KL! Preparing themselves for the Merdeka Tournament and using KL as a training base instead.

We like the part when 300-Pages Passport Man said that he hoped the 'tour' will "change his boys into men". We hope he's not referring to any visit to some crimson coloured area in the capital.

Check out this news report from FAM's website. Is it just us who find it weird that they only confirmed their second opponent AFTER arriving in Bratislava?:

SLOVEN BRATISLAVA FOR U23

2nd August 2007 – The Malaysian national Under-23 team currently in Slovakia has confirmed a game against Sloven Bratislava as their second opponent after picking Vion FC as their first test.

The youth side which is being prepared for the SEA Games at the end of the year arrived in Vion yesterday and where they have been slated to play Vion FC tomorrow.

“The boys look tired (when we arrived in Slovakia at 5.45pm) but we immediately trained at 7pm,” said national Under-23 head coach B. Sathianathan.

“We did light workout at the Vion training centre before having dinner at around 8pm. The weather is super with the temp at around 24 degrees.

“We have eight opponents to choose from and I will pick the strong teams to play with.”

MALAYSIA NATIONAL UNDER-23 TEAM
Mohd Nasril Mat Nourdin, Chun Keng Hong, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal, Mohamad Syamsol Sabtu, Mohamad Zaquan Adha Abd Radzak, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Shahurain Abu Samah, Sumardi Hajalan, K. Thanaraj, Mohd Daudsu Jamaluddin, Samransak Kram, Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri, Muhamad Zamri Chin, Mohd Farizal Marlias, Wan Azwari Wan Nor, Henry Parsi, Mohd Nizam Abu Bakar, Mohd Faizal Mohd Yusoff, Mohd Amirul Omar, Ahmad Shahril Zakaria, Mohd Azrul Ahmad, Mohamad Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak, Azi Shahril Azmi, Mohd Safee Mohd Sali, Mohd Nor Farhan Muhammad, Joseph Kalang Tie, Mohd Azril Abd Hamid.

Time To Take It Easy

2007-07-31T03:09:00.000-07:00

We have been tardy in updating the blog these last few days. We apologise. The BorakBola team have been away to Jakarta to watch the final match of the AFC Asian Cup 2007. And what a final it was! We will talk about the game in another posting.

Have you seen FAM's new logo? We think many have seen it as the email has been going round for about 2 - 3 weeks or so. If you have not, we are kind enough to show it to you here at BorakBola.

We received it two weeks ago and forgot all about it until another round of forwarded email was sent to us again. We think it's funny and brilliant. And whoever who was creative enough to think of this should take a bow.

And here's also what we heard recently:

We understand that Nestlé, through Maggie Malaysia, will be introducing a new, limited edition, stock gravy cubes in Malaysia. This is to commemorate our recent achievements in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.

The specially packaged, yellow and black cubes, will be marketed and called The Laughing Stock

New FAM version coming out soon

Okay, so we stole the joke from Japan and made it local.

Takut Kut?

2007-07-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Extra-time for Malaysia's Asian Cup post-mortem

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Reuters) - Malaysia's under-fire soccer officials have asked for more time from the government to explain why the national team flopped at the Asian Cup.

Ibrahim Saad, general secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), told local media they were unable to meet the Sports Cabinet Committee's request for a Tuesday meeting.

Out of the Asian Cup's four ASEAN host countries, Malaysia were the only team to fare badly, losing all three Group C matches, conceding 12 goals and scoring just once.

'We have to conduct our own post-mortem of the Asian Cup first. We need to get reports from the technical study group and other officials involved,' Ibrahim said in the New Straits Times on Friday.

'We need sufficient time to give the people who are involved to compile the necessary documents, give their opinions and make the necessary recommendations.'

Malaysia's poor performances resulted in the resignation of FAM deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, while the government demanded sweeping changes in the country's soccer structure.

Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia co-hosted the tournament with Malaysia. The final is on Sunday in Jakarta between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Taken from Soccernet

Where Are You?

2007-07-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

Remember the posting after the Malaysia v Iran game that we at BorakBola highlighted that there were no familiar Malaysian or FAM faces sitting at the main area reserved for the VVIPs? This is the fact, NO ONE from the FAM Technical Committee except Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad turned up to watch ANY of the game.

How bad was it? Well, in this picture we took, albeit not really clear you will notice that 99.9% sitting in the red seats are non-Malaysian. So much so, that although in the beginning of the match we saw The Flying Dutchman sitting at the back, near where the Match Commissioner was seated, towards the middle of the game, someone perhaps asked him to join the front row of the VVIP seats to have a 'Malaysian presence' there.

That's him by the way, in yellow.

Funny that, having a person who's usually not in town replacing others who should've come to watch the game.

Merdeka Invitational Tournament

2007-07-26T01:19:00.001-07:00

Here's what we know so far about this year 39th Merdeka Invitational Tournament or PestaBola Merdeka ke-39.

It will be held at the Shah Alam Stadium and MBPJ Stadium from August 20 - 29, 2007.

Malaysia will be sending the Under-23 aka The Travelling Boys to the tournament.

Other teams who have confirmed participation are defending champions Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia and Bangladesh. The FAM are waiting for confirmation from Thailand, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. It is likely that Myanmar, Singapore and Indonesia will also be sending their U-23 teams.

The FA of Selangor are sponsoring the tournament. The winners will receive US$10,000 while the runners-up will get US$5,000.

The team’s performance in the Merdeka Tournament will be an indication of how Malaysia will fare in the Sea Games in Korat in December.

Thailand, learning from Malaysia perhaps, have sent their team to Bayern Munich, Germany, for a one-month training stint before they head here.

Latest! Thailand has declined the invitation to join the tournament. Reports mentioned that Maldives will come and participate instead

The Adventures of the Maggi Boys continues

2007-07-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

These are the players with the training team for the upcoming CYC:

NATIONAL UNDER-19 TRAINING TEAM FOR CHAMPIONS YOUTH CUP

Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Mohammad Fariq Abdul Rashid, Muhammad Nuraizat Abdul Aziz, Mohd Khairul Anwar Ruslan, S. Kumaresan, Mohd Asraruddin Putra Oman, Muhammad Ibnu Kassim, Mohd Nazrin Mohd Nawi, Errizal Othman, Azrul Azmi, Badrol Bakhtiar, Mohd Noor Hazrul Mahd Mustafa, Mohd Shahrul Hafiz Mohd Shafei, Mohd Syazwan Mohd Roslan, Azri Alwan Nordin, Sazali Suwandi, Abdul Halim Zainal, See Kok Luen, Mohd Aliff Hafifi Mohamad, Mohd Fadzil Azahar, Wan Mohamad Aliff Wan Jasmi, Mohd Bunyamin Omar.

And these are the matches lined-up for the squad:

24th July, 2007: vs Kedah (at Darul Aman Stadium, 1-2

26th July, 2007: vs Kedah President’s Cup squad (at University Utara Malaysia, kick off at 5pm)

28th July, 2007: vs Perak (at Perak Stadium, kick off at 5pm)

2nd August, 2007 (TENTATIVE): vs Negeri Sembilan NAZA (at Stadium Paroi, kick off at 5pm)

And Now, The Under-19

2007-07-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we mentioned the Under-15 and Under-23 (which sometimes also means Under-21 and Under-20), we will soon touch on Under-16 (oh yes, its' a different team altogether from the U-15) and also the Danone Under-12 squad.

With the Champions Youth Cup (CYC) starting in the first week of August, we will first include some stories and news about the Under-19 squad.

The Unders
Let us get this straight and readers are welcome to clarify this because we are damn confused as well. We think that these are the Youth Squads in existence in Malaysia:

Under-12 (Danone Cup)

Under-15 (Under Aminuddin Hussin aka Mr Who?)

Under-16 (Also under Mr Who?)

Under-17 (Do they exist? Under who?)

Under-18 (Do they exist? Under who?)

Under-19 (Supposedly under K.Rajagobal)

Under-20 (See above)

Under-21 (Under B Sathianathan aka 300-Pages Passport Man)

Under-23 (See above)

The upcoming assignments this year so far that we know are:

Champions Youth Cup 2007 (Under-19)

Merdeka Invitational Tournament (Under-23)

Challenge Cup (Under-23)

Korat SEA Games (Under-23)

ASEAN Football Championship (Under-20)

AFC Under-16 Qualifiers (Under-16)

FAC Qualifiers (Under-20)

It's all so bloody messed up. Wait, be prepared to scroll up and down because you WILL need the squad reference above again if you continue reading what we are writing below. Trust us.

Champions Youth Cup
In anyway, let's talk about Champions Youth Cup. Touted as the biggest football event in Malaysia since the 1997 World Youth Cup, this controversial tournament has so far cost (it was initially not recognised by FIFA as it is organised with the G14 football 'gang'), a hefty RM17mil. Big clubs affliated with the G14 will be sending their Under-19 squads to the tournament. Read that again, this is a competition for the Under-19 age groups.

Malaysia are drawn in Group D which will include Chelsea, Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven. The matches will be played in Kuching. Alor Star is the venue for Group A which is made up of AC Milan, Flamengo, Ajax and Arsenal.

Juventus, Qatar, Paris Saint Germain and Barcelona are in Group B, which will be played in Kuantan while Malacca will host Group C made up of Boca Juniors, FC Internazionale, Manchester United and FC Porto.

Incidently, Malaysia's opening match will be against Bayern Munich - coached by former Malaysian international, Lim Teong Kim.

If the Malaysian fans are looking for a glimpse of hope after the disastrous showing by the Seniors in the Asian Cup, they will have a hard time finding it as it is unlikely the Under-19s will create any impact in this tournament. Other than the fact that the kids will have a daunting task facing future stars of world football, note that the U-19 has only been called up and assembled less than a month ago.

With that, we shall now call the U-19 the Maggi Boys.

To prepare the Maggi Boys, they are now based in Sintok, Kedah for centralised training. Yesterday, the team lost to Kedah 1-2 and today will take on Kedah President’s Cup squad at the Universiti Utara Malaysia ground today for another friendly.

Does a team, that is hastily assembled in less than a month's time to go before the CYC tournament begins, stands a chance against established clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern when they cannot even beat a team like Kedah?

Isn't this perplexing?

It get's even more stranger. During the tour of Thailand earlier this month, Robert Alberts took a "team" that lost 8-0 and 5-0 respectively to Osotspa FC and Thailand International University. But wait, The Flying Dutchman didn't take the Under-19 boys for the Thailand trip, instead he took the Under-20 squad. So what was that all about?

So is the team really ready for the CYC? We doubt it. With ten days to go before the tournament starts, The Flying Dutchman himself has commented that the team needed to "improve on two weaknesses".

"We must be able to switch faster from defence to attack. The defensive line should be more organised when they are under pressure,"

Some of you may ask, who is Robert Alberts?

Robert Alberts is the Technical Director of FAM.

Some of you now may ask, after scrolling up again, why is he coaching the Under-19? Shouldn't it be K. Rajagobal?

Good question. The answer is: FAM is THAT disorganised.

Road Map
What we know is that Mr Alberts is rarely in the country. Somehow, despite the fact that he's supposed to prepare the 'Road Map' for FAM (since 2005) which is, we think, his primary task, he was busy earlier this year arranging the Under-16 trip to Brickendonbury. He was often out of the country that one time, the press caught one of the junior teams wearing adidas kits instead of the current sponsor, Nike. Because apparently, Nike will only liaise with The Flying Dutchman for distribution of the kit. So when he was not around, there was no one to get the training jerseys from.

Whatever it is, someone else really wanted Malaysia to host the CYC badly so like it or not, this is almost like the Asian Cup debacle all over again (Youth version) - let's host a big-ass competition but send an ill-prepared team. We've seen this script before.

But let's hear FAM's version:

Necessary Decision
20th July 2007 – Robert Alberts, the technical director of the FA of Malaysia (FAM) has defended the decision to use his services for the Champions Youth Cup next month.

The Dutchman explained that due to the fact that the coaching staff with the national body are each busy with their own assignments, the decision was made to use his experience for the youth tournament which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 5th August to 19th August, 2007.

He said that Olympic head coach B. Sathianathan – in charge of the national Under-23 squad – will have to concentrate on the SEA Games preparation which will be held in December this year while national Under-19 head coach K. Rajagobal is busy with the preparation for the AFF meet (in Vietnam) and the AFC qualifiers in October.

“Coach Aminuddin (Hussin) on the other hand is currently in England with the U15 side where he is in charge of preparing the team for the AFC U16 qualifiers in November,” said Alberts (pic).

“It was not an easy decision to be made but we believe that since the other coaches are already involved with their respective assignments which have been drawn since last year, it is best that we do not disturb their programmes.

“Furthermore, with the Road Map almost complete, I believe that playing these games against opponents from Europe and South America will give me a better assessment as to where we should be heading as far as our youth development policy is concerned.”

In the meantime, Alberts said that the U19 squad will be leaving for Sintok in Kedah today as part of their preparation for the Champions Youth Cup where they have been placed in Group D alongside PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

The squad of 22 players will play a total of three matches before returning to Kuala Lumpur on 29th July, 2007.

They will then head to Port Dickson to complete their training programme before leaving for Group D base in Kuching on 5th August, 2007.

“Like what I’ve said before, the Champions Youth Cup is not for players to gain exposure but rather to win matches,” he quipped.
Taken from FAM's website

The Teacher and The Traveller

2007-07-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

Whether Cikgu Jan or Coach Norizan Bakar has been sacked from his job is still a mystery to everyone but FAM. But in truth, we realised that with Sathianathan taking charge of the Travelling Boys for the Merdeka Invitational in August and Challenge Cup in October and Norizan's contract expiring in September, Norizan is as good as being fired. A somewhat 'finish up your annual leave before you resign' kind of thing, no?

So there ARE clever people at the Wisma in Jalan SS5A/9, Kelana Jaya after all. Amazing.

More Travelling

2007-07-26T00:02:00.001-07:00

We always wonder who would actually pay RM600 for a 300-pages passport. We now have a few people in mind.

BorakBola was about to ask the question, "Where The Heck is Titus James?" when reader Lazlo Reparsi highlighted that SuperJuggler would be joining the Travelling Boys for the Merdeka Invitational/Challenge Cup/Korat SEA Games.

We searched high and low for clarification on this but as usual we haven't been looking at the right places and had our special FAM glasses on. We found out that SuperJuggler has a blog [http://titusjames.blogspot.com/] but that has not been updated since August 2005. The closest news we had was back in April when 300-Pages Passport Man mentioned that he wanted to call SuperJuggler back to join centralised training with the rest of the Travelling Boys.

The best bit we think from the news reports was this quote by (who else?):

“I’ll probably make a visit to see Titus play in France,”

Any excuse. Any excuse to go a-travelling.

It is said that SuperJuggler is keen to answer the call-up but must first meet his commitment with ~~French Third Division~~ The Third Division of the Ligue District - Seine et Marne Nord (or Seniors 3eme Division District) club, Villenoy AC. We recall that Bertalan Bicskei had also called him for trials for the Manila SEA Games back in 2005 but then he was only 18 then and was dropped.

A Bit About Titus James Palani
Titus started with the Villenoy AC Under-18 team before graduating into the senior side this year. He is the captain of the team and the club are currently third in the 15-team league.

The attacking midfielder was the team’s top scorer with 16 goals with the Villenoy Under-18 side two seasons ago.

He helped the team finish fifth in a 12-team league in Paris. Villenoy were also the FA Cup runners-up to Vaire.

Titus, now 20, went to France when he was 12 to seek a professional football future in Europe.

NB: This information about Titus James was gleamed from The Star. BorakBola cannot confirm the facts and we are conducting our research at the moment

Middle East Fare

2007-07-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

It will be an Iraq v Saudi Arabia final after all. Iraq managed to overcome Korea in last night's match in Kuala Lumpur by winning on penalties after the match ended goalless. Iraq's goalkeeper, Noor Sabri, who has a knack of wearing an adidas shirt despite the whole team being kitted out by Umbro, saved a penalty while Kim Jung-woo's final attempt for Korea hit the post.

This will be Iraq's first appearance in the finals in the history of the competition. The best result Iraq achieved was fourth placing in 1976. After a slow start in Bangkok, drawing 1-1 with host Thailand, Iraq turned on the style by defeating pre-tournament favourites Australia 3-1 on matchday 2. A goalless draw with Oman in the final group match meant Iraq went into the quarter-finals as group leader.

Iraq continued their good run with captain Younis Mahmoud scoring two goals in the win against Vietnam. The team's confidence grew and through tenacious defending, controlled passing and fluid movement showed by the team, the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil saw the Iraqis broke Korean hearts by taking the game into extra time and penalties. With that, Jorvan Vieira basically gave a big 'up yours' to the Mensa members of FAM who sacked him, if we are not mistaken, way back in 2002.

Up Yours FAM

We cannot imagine how it would be if FAM had trusted Vieira to carry on working with the U-20 team instead. These players would've been around 25 years old by now and the Pasukan Kebangsaan may or may have not endured such a torrid Asian Cup campaign. It is interesting to note that Vieira only had two months to prepare the team for the tournament. We at BorakBola applaud the hard work that Vieira and the Iraqi team has shown, despite the situation back home in Iraq. We watched the game live yesterday and we were impressed by the skills and composure shown by the Iraqi players. Respect!

Meanwhile, in Hanoi, Saudi Arabia despatched the holders with a convincing 3-2 win. It was a fine example of fast-flowing football shown by the two teams. Osim's Japan were again let down by their lack of firepower upfront and over-reliance on Takahara who was well marked. This seems to be a perennial problem for Japan despite the fact that they have quality midfield and defence players. Twice Japan had to come back with their goals coming from central defenders Abe and Nakazawa but Malek Maaz superb solo effort ended Japan's hope of a back to back triple crown.

And it will also be a Brazillian affair between the coaches as Saudi Arabia is also managed by Vieira's compatriot, Helios Dos Anjos. A serving of shish kebabs with churrascarrian touch perhaps?

Shelf any plans to eat at Tarboush, Naab or any Middle-Eastern eateries this Sunday evening. Most of them would probably be closed.

Asian Cup Heats Up

2007-07-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact the Pasukan Kebangsaan is no longer in the tournament, BorakBola will continue to watch the games live at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil as we don't know when the country will host another big football competition like this.

Matchday 5 of the competition will see the semi-finals being played in Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi where Iraq will meet Korea at 6.20pm and holders Japan will play against Saudi Arabia at 8.20pm (all times local) respectively.

It's interesting to note who the coach of Iraq is, being a certain Señor Jorvan Viera.

The Brazillian is the same person that FAM sacked a few days before the Asian Youth Championship in Johor Bahru and was replaced by current Under-19 coach, K. Rajagopal. Viera has coached the Under-20 for 3 years before he was asked to leave after a dismal outing in one of the tournaments that the team participated. At this moment, we can't remember which tournament it was.

Meanwhile, we are expecting to see Japan go all the way to the final and lift the cup for the third consecutive time and we hope that BorakBola would be able to report the game all the way from Jakarta.

See you at Iraq v Korea tonight!

Next Stop

2007-07-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

The next assignment for the Malaysian national football team would have been the upcoming Merdeka Invitational Tournament (Pestabola Merdeka) from 20 - 29 August 2007. If the national players who played in the Asian Cup wanted to redeem their battered pride anytime this year, they would have to wait because FAM has announced that they will be sending the Under-23 team instead to the tournament.

Whether this is a knee-jerk reaction or not, only FAM would know. It is however a good excuse to send the U-23 team instead of the Seniors since it would mean the U-23 would get more matches and extra preparation for the upcoming SEA Games at Korat as FAM will be sending the same team under coach B. Sathianathan.

Pre-Olympic
Malaysia is aiming nothing less than a gold medal at Korat. It is likely that the U-23 team going to Thailand and the Merdeka Invitational will consist of almost entirely the same players that played in the pre-Olympic football campaign earlier this year. (Was that the U-20 or U-21 squad? It's confusing for us as well but we know Sathianathan coaches both U-23 and U-21 teams). If we were to judge the squad from the pre-Olympic qualifiers itself, we atBorakBola are not too confident about the team but would support the team nevertheless.

Travelling Boys
We are nicknaming the U-23 as the Travelling Boys because their warm-up matches prior to the qualifiers included a three-match tour of South Africa, friendly matches in India and playing in the Hanoi Cup in Vietnam. They also had friendlies against local club sides and S-League club side Geylang United.

The Travelling Boys only manage to draw once against Syria and won one game against Hong Kong during the qualifiers. They lost the remaining matches. On Sathianathan defence, he only had a limited time to work with the boys as he was caught in a situation of club/state vs country for the players.

Before the Merdeka Invitational, the team would leave for Slovakia for a two-week stint from Aug 1-15 where they will play some test matches against club sides there. These will include the Slovakian Under-22 side and First Division teams.

Why Slovakia? Is it because it is cheaper? Is it because they have better facilities? Do they have better teams? And the next three assignments are competitions in hot and humid climate. Does FAM blindly approve all these overseas 'training stints'?

Anyway, in September, the Travelling Boys will then go to Myanmar to participate in the Challenge Cup.

The Coach
Sathianathan had been an assistant to previous national team coaches Hatem Souissi and Allan Harris. He was also the person that FAM sent to Germany to watch or observe (whatever you want to call it) the 2006 World Cup and apparently, has presented a paper on the "Malaysia World Cup Dream. BorakBola would very much like to read that paper.

Coach Sathianathan has called up 33 players for centralised training at Wisma FAM. They include Syed Adney, Norfarhan Mohd, Poster Boy and Safee Sali, among others.

A Malaysian In The EPL?

2007-07-24T05:01:00.000-07:00

Mr Soon-To-Quit Secretary-General announced today that the Olympic Squad and Selangor goalkeeper, Liverpool-born Syed Adney Syed Hussain will undergo trials with English clubs Darlington FC and Middlesborough next month.

The trials with the second division club will be for 8 days while trials with Premiership outfit 'Boro will be for 4 days. This will be the first time that a Malaysian player have been offered to undergo trials with English clubs, according to FAM.

BorakBola thinks that this will be an excellent opportunity for Syed Adney to gain valuable experience and exposure. We have only seen him play once during the Olympic qualifiers and one or two matches for Selangor and we have yet to see his true potential. However, his height is a great asset and he is indeed a good hope for the future. In anyways there's always room for improvement so we'll have to wait and see. Although we must add here that we hope that Syed Adney would put on some mass (unless he's going for that Van Der Sar route) and hopefully, if he is selected to join any of the English teams, we expect to see a top player manning the Malaysian goal in 2 - 3 years time.

Darlington and Boro shouldn't worry too much about working permit since Syed Adney is English-born, eh?

Good luck from BorakBola!

More Pies Please

Boro trials for Syed Adney

PETALING JAYA: National rookie goalkeeper Syed Adney Syed Hussein (pic) is game for the big time.

The lanky Selangor custodian, who will turn 21 in November, has set his sights on playing in the English Premier League. He will get his first big break when he attends trials with Middlesbrough next month.

“I was not selected for the recent Asian Cup campaign because I was recovering from injury. But I am ready for the challenge in the EPL,” said Syed Adney yesterday.

He said that an agent from the United States had arranged for the trials.

Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) general secretary, said it was refreshing to see a youngster from Malaysia getting a shot in the EPL.

“It will go down in the history books if he gets to play in the EPL,” said Dr Ibrahim, adding the FAM will sponsor the player’s trip to England.

Besides Middlesbrough, Syed Adney will also be attending trials with Second Division outfit Darlington FC.

“I am so happy to get the trials. And I am confident of getting a stint in England. If I get it I am going to stay there,” said Syed Adney, who played for the national team in the Doha Asian Games last year.

“I was born in Liverpool and my dream is to play for the Reds,” added the six-foot-two goalkeeper who returned to Malaysia with his parents at the age of eight.
Taken from The Star

Interview with the Sports Minister

2007-07-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here are parts of the interview between the News Straits Times and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. We reproduce here what was said with regards to FAM and football in this country.

"If I had my way, many decisions about athletes will be different, but as you know, government interference is not allowed in national associations. We don’t have 100 per cent say.

In the case of FAM (Football Association of Malaysia), there has been a public outcry and the Cabinet is also very disappointed but if FAM does not want to change, then nothing in the world can change FAM, because we are not part of FAM.

Q: What should FAM do to revive football, and do you think they can do it?

A: The disappointment with football is there was no urgency and spirit in the players (in the Asian Cup).

People are asking what is wrong with them. They were representing Malaysia They should have played with more pride. The Indonesian media praised their team despite losing, because there was fighting spirit. With the funding and support that the government is giving, this shouldn’t be the case.

But I bet you FAM will have 1,000 reasons why they failed, and what really makes the public very disappointed is that no one is feeling guilty about losing, and that is what really hurts.

The public outcry shows that the public is really disgusted with football.

If you look at badminton and squash, they go down and they come up again. They win today, they lose tomorrow, but unfortunately football loses consistently.

But because of Fifa regulations, we can only support but can’t intervene and everyone says maybe football must be taken over 100 per cent by the government, maybe football should be run by strong personalities, good managers.

It’s all up to FAM. We are calling them for the Cabinet Committee meeting on July 31. We are trying to see how we can help them.

I don’t want to be in a position that the eight-core sports programme has to drop football.

Q: Millions are being spent by the government. How long do you see this continuing?

A: If the rating system is accepted well, and if associations and the public understand that, I think the whole idea of subsidising associations will see a new phase in Malaysian sports and that is what we are hoping for.

Right now if you pull anything, it’s World War Three, but if you make them understand, when there is KPI (Key Performance Indicator), then I have achieved the objective. I would like see that in future, we only communicate with those who are high up in results."

God Help Us

2007-07-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

If King Yob is chosen, then that's it for Malaysian football.

Jostling begins in FAM

JOHOR BARU: The FA of Malaysia (FAM) congress will only be held in September but the fight for the posts in the association has already started.

And sadly for fans, who have been clamouring for change, most of those doing the jostling are the old faces.

Deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had resigned from all positions in the association and secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad will step down when his two-year term expires next month.

And one of those eyeing the seat vacated by the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang is incumbent vice-president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, who is also the FAM competitions committee chairman. He, of all people, has to take the blame for this season's messy M-League.

When news that Raja Ahmad, who is also a member of Parliament, had enlisted the help of his competitions committee members to lobby for him, those outside his camp sprang into action.

“Yes. We had a meeting in Shah Alam (recently). It was a hurriedly arranged meeting after learning that Raja Ahmad has made known his intentions to go for the vacant number two post. We are not happy with that for several reasons.

“There is a lot of unhappiness in the states over the manner in which the competitions committee handled things this season. Each time we complained, we were told that it was the council's decision. But we believe it was more of a “one-man decision”.

“This year's M-League is a big mess. It has been a bitter lesson for us and it is time we pick only those who can work - this is our secret pact,” said one official.

Former FAM vice-president Datuk Suleiman Mohd Noor, meanwhile, has called on FAM not to handle national teams any more. Instead, he said, a corporation consisting of sport-minded people, and headed by the Prime Minister, should be set up “to move football back to its original respectable level.”

“There are still many football brains that are capable of bringing back the shine to the game. Give them the due recognition. Stop the politicking for the sake of the sport,” said Suleiman, a former national manager
Taken from The Star

Teong Kim says sad state of affairs due to lack of infrastructure

2007-07-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

Friday July 20, 2007

Teong Kim says sad state of affairs due to lack of infrastructure

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: Former international Lim Teong Kim is not surprised at all over the sad state of affairs in Malaysian football.

The assistant coach of Bayern Munich Under-19 football team said that the dismal showing of the national team in the Asian Cup Finals was expected and the lack of infrastructure had hindered the growth of the game in the country.

“Bayern Munich are the top club in Germany. We have a very good infrastructure – five training fields and more coming up soon,” said Teong Kim, who is here to check out the facilities for the club's participation in the Champions Youth Cup (CYC), which kicks off on Aug 8.

Bayern Munich are in Group D and their matches against Malaysia, Chelsea and PSV Eindhoven will be played in Kuching.

“We have a complete infrastructure to cater for the professional team and also the youth teams. In fact, we have 11 youth teams in age-group between eight and 23. The other clubs in the Bundesliga also have a similar set-up.”

In the Finals, Malaysia lost all three matches in Group C. They were thrashed by China (1-5) and Uzbekistan (0-5) and were beaten 0-2 by Iran.

The 44-year-old Teong Kim said it was not fair to put the blame on the team when changes were not made to check the rot in the system.

He added that he had left the country for almost two decades but he had not seen changes or concerted efforts to develop the game, even in his home state Malacca where he started out playing for at the age of 17.

“When football is still the same here after so many years, how can we expect to see any changes to the game or standard? Why criticise the present batch of players and keep banging them on their heads for failures when no one cares for the development of the game,” he said.

“Football is a national agenda. I feel that every state should have an ideal infrastructure to develop the game.

“I have been in Bayern Munich for eight years now. Even the eight-year-old players travel extensively to play in invitational tournaments to gain experience. There are eight professional coaches at the youth level and players get plenty of exposure.

“The facilities are well-equipped with dressing rooms, rehabilitation rooms, physiotherapy, sauna and relaxation rooms.

“In Germany, we have technical problems but no infrastructure problems. If there are no fields how can the coaches get to work?

“The National Sports School in Bukit Jalil alone is not good enough. State FAs must get their infrastructure in place otherwise they cannot expect to produce results.

“I am just trying to pass my experience and knowledge learnt in Bayern Munich. It is difficult to see success if changes are not made. There is a saying in Germany – changes bring prosperity, contentment brings complacency.”

Teong Kim was a member of the national team who won the gold medal in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 1989. That was the last time the national senior team emerged as the champions of the regional international tournament.

He added that there was no point in coaxing players to ply their trade abroad if they had no desire to go in the first place.

“I left to play in the Bundesliga in 1988 because I had the desire to do it,” said Teong Kim, who played for Division Two club Hertha Berlin
Taken from The Star

Here Comes The Future

2007-07-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Starting today, BorakBola will try to include more news from the junior and the youth teams.

One team, the National Under-15, flew to England this week to take part in an 'international tournament' later this month. This may seem like a good exposure for the young boys coached by Aminuddin Hussin.

Can someone please inform us at BorakBola, who in the blazes is Aminuddin Hussin?

Anyway, other than the tournament, BorakBola suspects that the U15 boys are being made political pawns and guinea pigs in one - because they will be training at the controversial Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Brickendonbury. Reports by The Sun earlier this week has stated that the centre itself is not ready in terms of facilities and accommodation and the matter is still grey - have the training centre been approved by the cabinet and FAM?

The batch of U15 lads, which by the way, are represented by the Bukit Jalil Sport School, left for England on the 15th of July before taking part in the age-group competition starting on 29th July, 2007 and they will remain in England until the first week of August.

The tournament which will see 12 teams taking part will be from 29th July, 2007 until 5th August, 2007.

Malaysia are in Group C up against Beaconsfield FC (Berkshire), Pinnacle Youth (London) and Rorsjostaden (Sweden).

Group A are Eldon Celtic (Berkshire), Cobham FC (Surrey), Actual Soccer (London) and Soccer Pro (Portugal) while Group B are Links FC (Surrey), Brunswick Youth (London), Bidvest Wits JFC (South Africa) and CD Guadiaro (SPAIN).

MALAYSIA NATIONAL UNDER-15

Muhammad Fuad Mamat, Muhd Sukuri Mohd Rahim, Muhd Shaifullah Zainal, Shahrul Mohd Saad, Mohd Haizrul Asmiel Shamsul, Goh Jung Sern, Hazril Here, Mohd Nizam Mohd Yusri, Mohamad Fandi Othman, Sabri Sahar, Muhammad Nazrul Nakhaie Mohd Noor, Muhd Aminuddin Azmi, Zulfadhli Mohamed, Gary Steven Robbat, Iffi Afinaz Ismail, Muhamad Bukhari Idris, Mohd Alif Fadhil Ismail, Saiful Ridzuwan Selamat, D. Saarvindran, Mohamad Amer Saidin, Abdullah Am Ahmad, Mohamad Hakim Zainol.

FIXTURES

29th July: BUKIT JALIL SPORTS SCHOOL vs Pinnacle Youth (London)

31st July: Beaconsfield vs BUKIT JALIL SPORTS SCHOOL

3rd August: Rorsjostaden IF vs BUKIT JALIL SPORTS SCHOOL

4th August: Quarter-finals

5th August: Semi-Finals/Final

Under-15 Squad To Train In Brickendonbury

KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (Bernama) -- The development of the national youth squad will concentrate on efforts to build up the players' personality, exposure to training abroad and academic knowledge, said the Director of the National Sports Institute, Datuk Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz.

"Besides the focus on the aspect of training in football, emphasis will also be given to the academic and personality aspects. We want our young players who will be future professionals to have strong personality," he said.

He disclosed this at a press conference on the training session for the Under-15 squad at the High Performance Training Centre at Brickendonbury, London from July 16 to Aug 8.

Besides undergoing training there, the squad under the guidance of Aminuddin Hussin will also participate in the Arsenal International Challenge.

The national Under-15 football squad will be the second group from the National Sports Council's (NSC) High Performance Sports Program for football to undergo training at the centre.

Earlier, the Under-16 football team had been sent to the same centre for training in May.

Dr Ramlan said that in view of their young age and that they were still schooling, the training session at Brickendonbury also emphasised on the aspect of education. As such, several teachers would also accompany them on their trip to London.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) technical director Robert Albert noted that the boys would have the opportunity of a training session at the Arsenal Academy.

"Our intention of bringing the boys to London is to give them an international exposure since there are no major tournaments for them in the meantime here.

"At the Arsenal Academy, they will be exposed to the highest training level and the chance to use the facilities," said Albert.

The squad comprising 22 players, four officials and three teachers will leave for London on Sunday.
Taken from BERNAMA

Witchhunt and which one is which?

2007-07-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

More heads are rolling. According to news report today, the puppetmasters holding the strings at FAM have sacked the manager and two members of the technical team of the Pasukan Kebangsaan. Datuk Anifah Aman and coaches Nasir Yusof and Lim Chuan Chin were asked to resign by the national football body.

Team Manager Datuk Anifah Aman (in yellow), Nasir Yusof and Lim Chuan Chin (behind Norizan)

The reports stated that like coach Norizan Bakar, all three were asked to leave their positions immediately after the end of the Asian Cup campaign. It was also reported that all four were informed of the news right before the National Team took the field for the final group game against Iran. If this is true, it only goes to show the level of unprofessionalism on FAM's part.

Nasir Yusof, is a former national player, and as some may recall, one of the few capable playmakers that ever wore the national jersey. He has been one of the assistant coaches of the national squad since 2004 under Bertalan Bicskei.

Chuan Chin, former national goalkeeper and brother to Bayern Munich's youth squad coach, Lim Teong Kim, served as the goalkeeping coach for the team.

Which means that FAM would need to act quickly to reassemble the team in preparation for the upcoming Merdeka Invitational Tournament. However, it was also reported in The Star today that one of the deputies in FAM denied that Norizan has been sacked. So what is going on here?

FAM: Norizan is still the national coach

PETALING JAYA: FA of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Datuk Redzuan Tan Sri Sheikh Ahmad clarified yesterday that national coach Norizan Bakar had not been sacked and would have to serve out his contract, which expires in September.

Redzuan said that he was surprised to see media reports on the sacking of Norizan and the coach had misinterpreted the information given to him by team manager Datuk Anifah Aman on the eve of the Asian Cup Finals match against Iran on Tuesday.

“There has been total confusion. We have not sacked the coach. The message passed to Norizan that the Asian Cup would be his last assignment with the national team does not mean that he is sacked,” said Redzuan.

“Yes, we have the Merdeka Tournament next month. But there is a possibility that the SEA Games Under-23 squad under B. Sathianathan will play in the tournament. A decision has not been made yet.

“The FAM president, Sultan Ahmad Shah, has also made it clear that he wanted the manager and coach to hand in their reports on the Asian Cup by this week for them to conduct an inquiry. How can we sack the coach before the inquiry?”

Norizan in response to questions about his future with the national team at a post-match conference after Malaysia were beaten 0-2 by Iran in their final Group C fixture on Wednesday, said that he had been told by the team management to relinquish his duties immediately after the match.

“I have to accept this because hiring and firing are all part and parcel of the job. I understand, it's all about results when you assume duties with the national senior team ... life goes on,” said Norizan.

On what he would do next, Norizan said: “I will make a decision later. I am a teacher by profession. Just because my students fail does it mean that I have to stop teaching?”

The other coaches in the team, assistant Nasir Yusof and goalkeeper trainer Lim Chuan Chin, have also been told to go. They have contracts that run until the end of the year.

In other Group C matches, Malaysia went down to heavy defeats by China (1-5) and Uzbekistan (0-5). It resulted in a public outcry for the resignation of the top brass in the FAM.

And the FAM deputy president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah quit all his posts in the association on Sunday. But his father, who is the president, said that he was no quitter and would continue to fight to raise the standard of Malaysian football, which has been in the doldrums for a long, long time.

The reality is that Malaysia still do not have a team to compete in a tournament of Asian Cup quality. Playing by virtue of being hosts in these Finals had done more harm than good to Malaysian football.
Taken from The Star

First Blood - Norizan Sacked

2007-07-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

It was bound to happen. Here's an example how things might LOOK like it will change, but it won't. Believe us when we say as long as the same people stay in power in FAM, things will continue in a vicious cycle. It has been the same kind of reaction after every 'disastrous' National Team campaign - SEA Games, Merdeka Invitational, World Cup qualifying etc etc. Someone will have to take the blame and deflect the actual fault by the management of FAM. Someone have be made the fall guy. Someone have to be seen as the bad guy or the devil. And it is always the coach who will be 'sacked' and the team disbanded.

BorakBola will state once again (and again and again) - SACK THE ENTIRE FAM MANAGEMENT. Rehire only those who have the heart, passion, commitment and professionalism to run the game. Prevent politicians from going for any top post. We are against people like Shahidan Kassim, who already have other posts in other sports association. If you are an MP, concentrate of your day job and take care of your rakyat. Rebuilding the state of football in the country is a full time job. If not the case of you WANT to do it, or HAVE to do it. Its whether you CAN do it or not.

Hire real businessmen (or women) to run the financial aspects of the game. Appoint a proper PR agency if needed to handle communication and day to day PR events. Hire proper football mindness people at the technical level. Perhaps do a 'juggling' test. If they can't play or kick a ball properly, then go home. Heck, even Bolivia's President, Evo Morales can play. At 4,000 m above sea level nevertheless!

Senor Morales. No Problemo!

If readers would recall, BorakBola wrote somewhere in the blog that Norizan's contract is up after the Asian Cup anyways, so in truth this can be considered as 'contract not extended'.

Norizan axed as Malaysia coach

KUALA LUMPUR - Norizan Bakar has been sensationally axed by Malaysia’s football authorities despite his side earning plaudits galore during a narrow 2-0 AFC Asian Cup defeat to Iran on Wednesday.

An emotional Norizan told reporters that he had been told of the decision before the Iran match, an encounter that followed a 5-1 defeat against China as well as a 5-0 drubbing by Uzbekistan, results that were clearly beyond the pale for those in power at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

The former Perlis and Penang boss, whilst philosophical about the news, was adamant that he had been poorly treated.

“I have been told by the FAM that my assignment as national team coach has come to an end at the Asian Cup,” the 46-year-old said.

“I was told prior to the Iran match and I must say that I think the decision is unfair as I have always tried my level best to achieve things with the personnel that I have at my disposal.

“You know, my training is as a teacher and I know full well that when a student fails I do not then immediately have to stop teaching. Having said that, this is football. In coaching there will always be hiring and firing and football is all about results and because of that I have to accept the decision.

“There now have to be solutions found to the problems. There were definitely problems in terms of our preparation for this tournament. Problems though are meant to be solved."

Despite finishing bottom of Group C, Malaysia’s performance against the might of group winners Iran, especially in the face of recent criticism, delighted the departing Norizan.

“With all the criticism and all the humiliation thee has been, the morale of the players was very low going into this match, in fact it was going from bad to worse. I therefore have to take my hat of to them. They showed real guts in the way they played," he said.

“I suppose nobody wants to be criticised. It was very hard for the players to play here. I have to say that the players showed their true selves tonight in terms of team spirit and togetherness.”

Norizan also revealed that his player’s much improved display was proof that the Malaysian team needed to be supported even if they continue, for the time being at least, to struggle against the big hitters of world football.

“A game like we had tonight shows that Malaysia needs to be supported. After the two looses and all the criticism the players were very down. But they bounced back," he added.

“Look we have nothing to lose by playing these bigger teams. We must learn from our experiences,” he added before leaving to a standing ovation."
Taken from PA Sport

Comparison

2007-07-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

Some readers by now would probably be fed-up with the constant comparison with our neighbours especially between FAM and PSSI (Persatuan SepakBola Seluruh Indonesia). BorakBola will make no apologies for this as the main reason we always compare the state of national football in this country with that of Indonesia is because we believe that funds-wise, they should be around the same, if not less than the money the government injects into sports in this country. Plus because physically, they are almost the same and we speak the same language. BorakBola have been following the performance of the Timnas (Tim Nasional) eversince their disastrous AFF outing under Peter Withe. BorakBola believes, that among the countries that Malaysia should learn from would be Indonesia as well, because they are undergoing a rebuilding process for the national team, who's own performance have slumped over the year.

Judging from this year's Asian Cup, Indonesia is looking to come back big in ASEAN. Although like Thailand the future is still uncertain as youth football development is not as strong in these countries as compared to say, Singapore. Expect them to provide a decent match against the soon to be assembled MyTeam 2.

Two things that BorakBola would like to highlight here. Firstly, how information are well distributed and easily accessed from the PSSI website. We admit, they are far from perfect (especially information and handling of tickets sales). But unlike in Malaysia where we were unaware until the first match who was wearing what number in the Pasukan Kebangsaan, the Indonesian were already putting up on their website the numbers the players will be using for the Asian Cup campaign. Another example is how in the last group match against Korea, the Indonesian team was wearing their away white kit for the first time. It wasn't really a surprise that the whole Gelora Bung Karno stadium was white as snow as well when previously it was a sea of red for two consecutive games. Will we in Malaysia ever be this organised? Go and visit the FAM site again and think. And see if the slowpokes at FAM can beat the Indons with updates as this

A second example of how PSSI got it right is that despite the busy schedule the Timnas have with training, they managed to (twice) slot in time to visit orphanages around Jakarta and handing out goodies to the children. What an experience for these kids to be able to see and meet their heroes in real life. That is how you inspire future heroes. Search the PSSI website for full stories.

Timnas captain Ponaryo Astaman handing out gifts to orphans in Jakarta

What did the Malaysian team do before the first match?

We cut cakes.

You don't need to go as far as Highbury or Brickendonbury to improve the game. Just look within ASEAN itself.

Of Missing People and Crap AFC Planning

2007-07-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

This is what the President of FAM answered when MailSport of The Malay Mail interviewed him a few days back:

MailSport: Will Tuanku watch the match against Iran on Wednesday (tomorrow)?

FAM President: That’s a good idea. I will try. I’m also busy with my State, but I will try.

The full length of the interview can be read Here

BorakBola was lucky enough to get good seats for yesterday's Malaysia v Iran match (thanks Hakim!), which was located right next to the VIP and VVIP seating area.

So near that BorakBola's crew managed to 'remind' - okay shouted - to the Match Commissioner for yesterday's game to stop with this nonsense by the AFC to have a match referee from same region as the playing teams. Yesterday's referee is Mr Muhsen Basma from SYRIA, with the Linesmen and Fourth Official from SYRIA and SAUDI ARABIA respectively. Oh, did BorakBola mention that the Match Commissioner is from LEBANON? It's like an OIC Conference yesterday at Bukit Jalil. Some calls yesterday were a bit dodgy

"Ya, after game dinner tonight will be at Tarboush, no problem" - Images by Getty Images

Anyway, looking over to the VVIP area, there was NO Malaysian officials or VVIP or VIP that was seated in the posh, red carpetted area reserved for VVIPs. The President of FAM was not there, although this is understandable because of the tragedy of the Nuri helicopter crash in his state. But where are the rest? Not even one Minister. Where was the Sport Minister? You'd think Mr I Want All The Sports Association Posts Perlis MB would be there as well to back up his 'interest' for positions in the national football body but he wasn't there too. We know that Datuk Anifah Aman was there, perhaps the other perpetually missing in action Deputy or Vice Presidents are around the stadium but they weren't seated in the VVIP area.

Our point? It shows that talk is cheap. Everyone's out to sharpen their knives but if you really cared about the National Team, you'd turn up and show your support yesterday. One of the sad fact besetting this football 'crisis' in our country is that nobody who are somebody really cared. Like we highlighted before, SBY was at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium showing his support for the Timnas. Prior to that SBY visited the team at their hotel to meet with the players while Jusuf Kalla twice visited the team during training sessions.

Spot the President

We are sure that if the now called-off match by Manchester United would have gone on as planned, the VVIP areas would be filled with various ministers and their families - all decked in the red and white of Manchester instead of the yellow and black of Malaysia.

BorakBola says, those with grandiose views who wants a position in FAM should not be allowed to even consider applying for the job, but then again, who would we really turn to now? Who will actually MAKE the call and MAKE things happen?

Report Card: Asian Cup

2007-07-19T02:41:00.000-07:00

With the conclusion of group matches for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup yesterday, Malaysia finishes the campaign with three losses, conceding 12 goals and scoring only one goal in the process. This means that Malaysia failed to pick-up any points, making it technically the last placed team among the 16 nations that participated in this year's tournament. Not only Malaysia is the only host among the four that failed to collect any points, it is also the first time in the tournament's history that a host nation has failed to do so. Oman and Qatar are the next teams above Malaysia, each picking up 2 points each from two draws.

In comparison, Vietnam is still in the competition, playing in the quarterfinals against Iraq, after finishing second in their group. Thailand and Indonesia both narrowly misses the cut, with the Thais losing out to Australia by virtue of head to head result despite sharing the same points while Indonesia's lost to Korea means the Koreans progressed by having one point more.

Vietnam's aim for the tournament was to be the highest ranked South-East Asian team and it look's like they have achieved this.

MATCH REPORT: Malaysia v Iran (Asian Cup)

2007-07-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

Iran defeat brave Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - A 29th minute penalty from Javad Nekounam coupled with a second half goal from Andranik Teymourian helped a struggling Iran secure a place in the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup by narrowly beating resilient co-hosts Malaysia 2-0 on Wednesday night

Needing to win convincingly in order to assure themselves of top spot in Group C and claim a place in the tournament’s knockout phase, Iran were made to work all the way by a heroic Malaysian outfit.

Despite constantly struggling to find a way past Malaysia’s massed ranks, Uzbekistan’s 3-0 victory over China assured the Iranians of pole position and they now face the prospect of a last eight meeting with Korea Republic in Kuala Lumpur.

Iranian players and officials celebrated wildly at the final whistle, whilst Malaysian heads were held high, with some pride restored following the South East Asian outfit’s 5-1 loss to China and the 5-0 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Uzbekistan.

Having called for a heroic rearguard action, Malaysia coach Norizan Bakar, who kicked off with six recognised defenders in his starting 11, will have been delighted with his charges’ overall resilience, although possibly
less pleased with the time and space afforded to Vahid Hashemian whose close-range ninth minute shot from Teymourian’s cross was superbly turned onto his bar and away to safety by Malaysia goalkeeper Azizon Kadir.

Three minutes later and Azizon was in the thick of things again as he dived to deflect a fiercely struck Reza Enayati shot onto his right hand post.

Despite their early dominance, Iran failed to find a way through the home side’s massed defence and nearly conceded themselves when Aidil Radzak burst through a static Iranian backline, but the youngster’s shot was deflected safely into the arms of Iran stopper Hassan Roudbarian.

The breakthrough came after 29 minutes. Ali Karimi’s well timed run into the Malaysian box was checked illegally by Hussain Khaironissam according to referee Muhsen Basma. Javad Nekounam, scorer of Iran’s equaliser against China in a 2-2 draw, tucked away the resulting penalty with ease.

The Malaysian woodwork was rattled again only moments later when Rahman Rezaei’s delicate headed cross was thumped against the bar by Hashemian.

Malaysia came close to equalising after 44 minutes when Shukor Adan’s thrusting run down the right flank saw him find space to fire in a shot that brought the best out of Roudbarian to send the home team into the break in a buoyant mood.

With Malaysia continuing to fight for every blade of the Bukit Jalil National Stadium turf, Iran had to wait until the 58th minute for their first serious attempt of the half, Teymourian’s effort being tipped away acrobatically by Azizon.

Substitute Rassoul Khatibi duly headed horribly wide from only five yards before he was booked for attempting to win a penalty with a dramatic dive.

A long range pile driver from Hashemian was then gathered well by Azizon as Malaysian bodies continued to thwart Iran, a terrific team spirit that was epitomised in the 71st minute as Hamzani Omar reacted brilliantly to deny Khatibi a clear attempt on goal.

Javad Kazemian’s lobbed effort on 75 minutes looped agonisingly wide before Iran’s superior possession was turned into something more tangible three minutes later when Teymourian converted a Mehdi Mahdavikia pass with unerring accuracy to beat Azizon at his near post.

Karimi’s last gasp shot was turned onto the bar by Azizon, the save proved to be the last meaningful action of a game which Iran may have won but from which Malaysia emerged with plaudits galore.
Taken from PA Sport

We Need A Time-Travelling Machine!!!

2007-07-18T03:36:00.001-07:00

An observation made by a Japanese technical assistant who was in Bukit Jalil for Malaysia’s second match against Uzbekistan, said: "Malaysia is 20 years behind Europe and 10 years behind Asia."

Meanwhile...

2007-07-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

It was only a matter of time before debates in Parliament caught up with the Malaysian football 'crisis'

Dewan Negara: 'Football officials have lost the plot'

A SENATOR has joined the chorus of criticism against the Football Association of Malaysia, holding it responsible for the pathetic state of Malaysian football.

Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi suggested that the FAM leadership meet the national women’s team on the field and if the FAM side lost, all should resign.

He raised this issue while asking a supplementary question about the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry’s 50th Merdeka celebration.

"If FAM officials lose, it is best they all give up their positions and move on. This way, better candidates can take over."

Puad said that he was not in the habit of picking on people but football was in a state of shambles and could no longer play a role in uniting Malaysians.
"It used to unite Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, colour, age or station in life. Now that is over."

Puad said one of the reasons for the national team’s dismal performance, apart from poor leadership, was a lack of patriotism and competitive spirit among the players.

"In the early days of independence, sheer patriotism drove us to great heights," he said.

The situation had reached such pathetic levels that even the long-suffering public had given up.

He called on the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry to produce a documentary chronicling the success of the national teams over the decades.

"This should inspire the current crop of players to improve their game," Puad added.

Deputy Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Wong Kam Hoong said the nation’s achievement in the sporting arena should not be confined to a single sport.

Wong said Malaysians excelled in squash, badminton and bowling and the achievements were a source of pride for the country.

"We are making waves and some of the players are world champions," he said trying to play down football’s failure.

Puad later said he was articulating the frustration of the football-loving public.

Football received a huge grant but those in charge were unable to produce results, leaving fans frustrated.
Taken from the New Straits Times

Famous Last Words?

2007-07-18T02:54:00.000-07:00

At times, BorakBola just think some Malaysian players are too manja (Pampered). You played badly, people criticise you, simple. Professionals would lift their heads and aim to improve and be better and to not repeat the same mistakes. Only children would go home and cry. You don't need psychologists to deal with this.

Are we men or little kids?

Norizan hits back at critics

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia coach Norizan Bakar has countered the criticism of his side’s AFC Asian Cup campaign with defiance ahead of the co-hosts’ final Group C game against Iran on Wednesday.

Malaysia’s opening 5-1 defeat to China was swiftly followed by an equally humiliating 5-0 loss at the hands of Uzbekistan, results that have led to the local press becoming increasingly hostile and the resignation of one of the country’s top football officials.

Despite Malaysia’s less than impressive displays, their first at an Asian Cup for 27 years, Norizan was adamant that he was in no mood to shirk his responsibilities.

“This tournament has brought its ups and downs but I do not want to run away from my responsibilities,” said the former Perlis and Penang boss.

“With all that is happening around us, with all the criticism and humiliation, even the best psychologists would struggle to help our team.

“I can see that team morale is quite low at the moment after the two defeats, and I have said that we must approach the Iran game in the right manner.

“I have just told the players that the criticism is part and parcel of football and that what is happening here at he Asian Cup can only help us in the future.”

Outplayed in their first two matches, Norizan also revealed the scale of his side’s defeats thus far will dictate how Malaysia line-up against an Iran side which needs a sizeable win to assure themselves of top spot in the group.

“Having seen them play, we know that Iran are a good team and from the beginning we have been assessing how we should approach the game,” said Norizan.

“We have to expect that the Iran side will be going all out against us. Our approach will therefore have to be a defensive one tomorrow. There will be changes to our starting line-up, in fact, there have to be changes.”

Keen for history not to repeat itself, Norizan insisted that the game at Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Jalil National Stadium will be a question of damage limitation rather than a realistic chance for Malaysia to grab even a point.

“As you saw in the two games that we lost against China and Uzbekistan, when we tried to attack we were left very exposed at the back,” he added.

“Everyone is expecting Iran to win, so we have to be realistic. They need a big win and so therefore we have to try and stop them doing that by limiting the number of goals they score.”
Taken from AFC Asian Cup website

Norizan Wants Players to Dig In

Reeling after two heavy defeats, Malaysian coach Norizan Bakar is calling on his players to rise above all the chaos and criticism and claw back some pride against Iran in their final Asian Cup Group C on Wednesday.

Hammered 5-1 by China in their opening game last week, the co-hosts were humiliated 5-0 by Uzbekistan on Saturday.
Those one-sided results plunged Malaysian soccer into turmoil, with the Football Association of Malaysia's deputy president resigning on Sunday and sports leaders calling for others to follow suit.

Norizan, who has shouldered much of the blame, remains defiant, however.

'I'm only thinking about the match against Iran,' he told journalists on Tuesday. 'With all the criticism and humiliation, not even the best psychologist can help the team.

'I just told the players to face it and maybe it will make us stronger. We have to be realistic against Iran and hope we don't concede too many goals.'

Malaysia have already been eliminated from the Asian Cup. Iran beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in their opener and then drew 2-2 with China. Victory would ensure them a place in the quarter-finals.
Taken from Soccernet

TONIGHT! MALAYSIA v IRAN

2007-07-18T02:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight the National Stadium at Bukit Jalil will see the final match for the host, Malaysia versus the second-highest ranked team in Asia and three times winner, Iran. After losing with big margins in the first two games (1-5 to China and 0-5 to Uzbekistan), the prospect is not good. Morale in the Malaysian camp is already low the with the two humiliating defeats, the fans and critics have been baying for blood and the national football body has already been shaken by the resignation of the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, after over 20 years in FAM.

The turnout will definitely be low tonight compared to the first two games. Do not be surprised that the game tonight will only be witnessed by a few hard-core and hopeful local fans, fans who are there just to see the national team beaten convincingly and with big margins and Iranian fans.

If Malaysia's expecting mercy from the Iranians, they will have to look elsewhere as Iran is in no mood as they drew with China in their last game after beating Uzbekistan 2-1 and they would want to score as much, if not more than China in order to top the group. (Qualifications in the Asian Cup is based on head to head results followed by goal differences, with the draw between China and Iran, goal differences will be the key should China manage to beat Uzbekistan).

Don't go to the stadium tonight if you have a weak heart.

Iran
Iran will have top players plying their trade in Europe at their disposal. Led by the experienced former Asian Player of the Year Ali Karimi, (recently of Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich), they will also have Andranik Teymourian and Javad Nekounam in midfield (Bolton Wanderers and Osasuna respectively). Iran topped their group in during qualifications in a group which also included Korea.
Players to watch: Javad Nekounam - has already scored a goal in the last game against China

Malaysia
Nothing much to add really. Malaysia already cancelled one training session this week and pyschologically the players are at the lowest ebb. Damage limitation is what the team should aim for although Malaysia will need to play with high spirit and determination to redeem whatever pride's left. Whatever it is, tonight we can see who among the national players are real men and can rise from the ashes. We are hoping that Indra would lead the attack alongside Akmal and we hope Shukor Adan should NOT start.
Players to watch: The strikers. Akmal and Indra

Football: Iran all set to go for big win against Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Three-time winners Iran are not expected to show mercy against a demoralised and down-and-out Malaysia in their final Group C fixture in the Asian Cup Finals at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tonight.

Coach Norizan Bakar is aware that Iran may gun for a high-scoring victory against his boys, who crashed to humiliating defeats by China (1-5) and Uzbekistan (0-5).

The results led to a public outcry for the resignation of the top brass in the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah quit as the deputy president on Sunday.

“We have to accept reality ... life goes on for the boys and me,” said Norizan at a pre-match conference at the team hotel here yesterday.

“We have no choice but to take a defensive approach against a strong attacking side like Iran. We have to be compact at the back and hope for the best.”

Team manager Datuk Anifah Aman said that there was not much they could do and even if they had the best coaches, they would not be able to get the desired results.

“Let’s face facts ... we do not have the material,” he said.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei declared that their target was to finish on top of the group and he would not allow complacency to get to his side.

The group winners will remain in Malaysia for their quarter-final match and the runners-up travel to Jakarta.

Ghalenoei added that although they had seen Malaysia suffering two heavy defeats, they would not take their beleaguered opponents lightly.

“I have to say that we always respect our opponents and they include the Malaysian team,” he said.

“Malaysia have conceded many goals. Even so, we have to approach this game in the same way as we approached our matches against Uzbekistan and China.

“The result of this match is important. We will use all our key players against Malaysia because we prefer to stay in Malaysia where we have been made to feel very welcome. Our priority is to win the group.”

Iran and China are the joint leaders with four points each.

But China, who play against Uzbekistan in the other match at the Shah Alam Stadium, have a superior goal difference of +4 against a +1 for Iran.
Taken from The Star

Condolences

2007-07-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

On another note altogether, Borakbola would like to extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of the six crew of the Nuri helicopter which crashed near Genting Highlands last Friday. According to news report, the wreckage of the helicopter have finally been found, with all six perished in the crash. Our thoughts are with them.

BorakBola hopes that any influential person who reads this blog would be able to inform or persuade the Pasukan Kebangsaan to all wear black armbands in respect to the crew and that a one-minute silence can be observed before the match starts tomorrow evening.

No Turning Back - Tengku Abdullah

2007-07-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

Its true Tuanku, we have had enough too.

Tengku Abdullah: I have done enough for Malaysian football

KUANTAN: Tengku Mahkota of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he decided to quit as deputy president of the FAM after considering the need for "new people" to replace him.

Denying it had anything to do with the atrocious performance of the national team at the Asian Cup tournament, Tengku Abdullah said he had voiced his intention to step down since last year.

However, he hinted that negative public feedback on the declining standard of Malaysian football had, to a certain extent, influenced his decision.

"I have been with FAM for so long and feel that it’s time for new people (to take over).

"I am also receptive and understand the views from all quarters such as those voiced by the fans, supporters and critics. I have done my level best under the circumstances."
Tengku Abdullah was met after launching the state-level World Blood Donor Day celebrations at Indera Mahkota here yesterday.

"I would like to thank everybody. I think I had done enough (for Malaysian football) and now want to concentrate on something else."

His advice to the existing FAM officials and those who are to join them in future was for them to show full commitment towards improving the standard of Malaysian football.

"I do admit that time constraint was a factor which had prevented me from fully devoting myself (to the FAM)."

Tengku Abdullah ruled out the possibility of him making a U-turn over his resignation even if FAM officials pleaded with him.

"There is no need for anyone to coax me. They should instead concentrate on finding my replacement. I do not want any drama. Just let me spend some time on my own without having to talk about football."

Tengku Abdullah said he was still willing to assist FAM in the future if the association felt his views were needed.

"But if possible, I do not want to make any more public comment (on football). I have spent 23 years, which is almost half of my life, with football and I think that is enough."
Taken from the New Straits Times

Interview With The Sultan

2007-07-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

After 23 years, you'd think someone would realise when his time is up. If after 23 years you are unable to 'turn it around', what does that say? With all due respect Your Highness, I hope there will changes in our lifetime, and not another 23 years.

Here's a very good interview by Rizal Hashim. Taken from The Malay Mail.

‘I’m not a quitter’
Massive overhaul, reforms and inquiries were some of the key words used as FA of Malaysia president Sultan Ahmad Shah vowed yesterday not to bow to public pressure in the wake of the national team’s atrocious performance in the ongoing 14th AFC Asian Cup.

Mailsport’s RIZAL HASHIM was at TUDM Subang to pose questions to the Pahang ruler.

Mailsport (MS): Is it true, Tuanku, that you intend to follow your son Tengku Abdullah ’s decision to quit FAM?

Sultan Ahmad Shah (SAS): No, I don’t intend to run away from my responsibilities. I’m not going to abandon ship. In fact, we promise to conduct an inquiry into the team’s performance in the Asian Cup. There will be changes. I will personally look into the issue and chair a committee that is tasked to discuss the future of Malaysia football.

MS: What are the drastic changes, Tuanku?

SAS: Not drastic. We will demand the coach (Norizan Bakar) and team manager Datuk Anifah Aman submit a detailed report immediately after the game against Iran (tomorrow). I have been keeping quiet because I have been away, attending to my son’s education, but people seemed to think that I do not know what has been happening .

MS: Tuanku’s thoughts on Tengku Abdullah ’s resignation.

SAS: It was breaking news to me. But he had informed me earlier of his intention to quit during the annual general meeting in September. If he’s happy, what can I do?

MS: The public has been baying for FAM’s blood, Tuanku.

SAS: When the team were preparing for the tournament, I was away. I did not watch the defeats to China and Uzbekistan. But I was upset, just like the fans. We were badly beaten. It was embarrassing. But I urge the public to continue supporting the team. The committee comprising myself, the deputy president (Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad), and vice-presidents (Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar and Datuk Anifah) will find new ways to push for reforms.

MS: What can we expect from the FAM Congress in September?

SAS: It is up to the delegates to nominate their candidates, who are the deputy presidents, or the vice-presidents. It’s their prerogative.

MS: What about Tuanku?

SAS: As I said, it’s up to the delegates, I’m ready, willing and able if they want me. I took over as president (from Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah) in 1984 and I made FAM a rich organisation. We gave out grants to the State FAs to keep the game alive.

MS: But today, the reality is different. FAM ’s main sponsor Telekom Malaysia pledge RM8.5 a year as opposed to Dunhill’s annual sponsorship of RM30 million those days.

SAS: We are still alive and well, strong physically and mentally. Like I said earlier, we are not going to run away from our responsibility. We are fighters and we will fight for betterment. Something concrete must be done.

MS: How does FAM intend to attract sponsors, Tuanku? And is it true FAM is scraping the bottom of the barrel?

SAS : We are not financially in dire straits. We have enough money to run our activities. As the finance committee chairman, I should know. Don’t worry. We know how to source for sponsorship. I can’t reveal to you how, but we have our ways.

MS: Is Tuanku satisfied with the way the FAM secretariat is administered daily?

SAS: I’m not there, so I wouldn’t know. The daily affairs, we leave it to the secretariat.

MS: The two previous general secretaries —Datuk Paul Mony Samuel and Datuk Dell Akbar Khan —would keep Tuanku informed on FAM’s daily matters. Is the current general secretary Datuk Seri Ibrahim Saad applying the same style?

SAS: Each has his own management style. Datuk Paul has his own, Datuk Dell his way and Datuk Seri Ibrahim, his way of doing things.

MS: Is it true that Ibrahim is resigning from his post, Tuanku?

SAS: He has written to me, asking us not to extend his contract which ends next month. I will write back to him. He has done a good job.

MS: The rakyat’s sentiments against FAM are hostile, Tuanku.

SAS: That’s normal. It comes with the territory. As president, I have to be receptive to constructive criticism. In life, we cannot expect bouquets all the time. When you are alive, nobody will praise you. When you die, there will only be good words for you. I don’t ask for praise, and I have always adopted an open policy with regard to constructive criticism.

MS: The team have been atrocious, Tuanku.

SAS: Yes, we created the semi-pro league to inject interest in the game, we wanted it to become an industry which will create jobs and livelihoods for many people.

Millions have been spent, and in return, we wanted the players to give something back. The returns have been poor. That is why we have to perform a general overhaul.

MS: Tuanku had indicated to quit FAM a few times before this.

SAS: That’s true. But I’m not going to leave if the issues are not resolved. I’m not a coward. I’m a fighter. I live by the maxim bertelingakan tempayan, berhatikan batu (ears of a martavan jar, heart of rock).

MS: Some say the journey to full recovery is long and an arduous one, Tuanku.

SAS: Naturally. The Malaysia Plan too has reached its ninth phase. It will take time.

MS: Would Tuanku agree if football is made a national agenda which will require the involvement of all parties?

SAS: When the time comes, we have to think about it. FAM has its own mechanism to deal with it. But Malaysia has lots of intelligent people, men and women who are active in sports. If they want to do it, by all means. This is a democratic country. May God bless t hem.

MS: Tuanku, what about the State FAs who are keeping mum? After all, the players are the products of the system laid out by the affiliates, but FAM is bearing the brunt.

SAS: That’s normal. The State FAs are never wrong, only FAM is to be blamed. But they are also part of FAM. When we have the meeting soon, we will discuss this.

MS: There have been suggestions that Malaysia open its doors to naturalised citizens to represent the country as a short-term measure towards revival, Tuanku?

SAS: It ’s not my style. I’m proud of my own people. Why should we allow others to deprive true and genuine Malaysians from representing Malaysia? Our rakyat are still capable of excelling in sports. Why should we give it to others?

MS: Will Tuanku watch the match against Iran on Wednesday (tomorrow)?

SAS: That’s a good idea. I will try. I’m also busy with my State, but I will try.

How Would We Audit The Auditors?

2007-07-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

Hmm...shouldn't a task force comprises people who are from outside the organisation, to prevent bias? Like an audit.

Denial
Denial is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person faced with a fact that is uncomfortable or painful to accept rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimization) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference). ...

FAM boss refuses to step down, vows to turn things around

PETALING JAYA: Sultan Ahmad Shah has promised a “general overhaul” of the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and he will also personally conduct an inquiry into the national team’s inept performance in the Asian Cup Finals.

The FAM president said that it was his responsibility to check the rot. And he dismissed speculation that he would also step down following the resignation of his son, Tengku Abdullah, as the FAM deputy president on Sunday.

“I will not bow to pressure. I am not a coward,” said the Sultan, reacting to the public outcry calling for the FA top brass to resign.

“Who does not want the national team to do well at international matches? This is my responsibility ... we will not run away ... we are fighters.”

Speaking to reporters at the Subang (TUDM) airport before boarding a private jet to Kuantan yesterday, he said that he would lead an inquiry team comprising a few FAM exco members to find the answers.

“Yes, I have been quiet all this while. They thought I do not know anything. I love football and I am with the people (rakyat). We were badly beaten,” he said.

“I demand a full report of the matches against China and Uzbekistan from the manager and coach. I cannot take it. There will be changes.”

Malaysia are in the Asian Cup Finals by virtue of being one of the four co-hosts. They were thrashed by China (1-5) and Uzbekistan (0-5) in Group C and will complete their fixtures tomorrow against Iran.

In contrast, the other Asean hosts of the Finals – Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia – have done well, scoring wins and draws over much fancied opponents.

“We will have something new up our sleeves. I will not let them (the fans) down. I have been the FAM president for 22 years and I know the tricks of the trade,” said the Sultan.

“I know the agony of the fans. We have spent millions but they (affiliates and players) have not done anything. I want to raise the image of the national team.

“I took over as the FAM president in 1984 and started from scratch. I made them (the FAM) rich and gave every affiliate subsidies.”

On whether he would step down at the coming FAM Congress in September, Sultan Ahmad said that it was left to the members to decide.

“If they want me, I am willing to serve,” said the Sultan.

“We are still alive – spiritually, physically and mentally. Come what may, we will continue to strive to excel. There has to be something solid and concrete that has to be done.”

On the resignation of Tengku Abdullah, Sultan Ahmad said: “This is breaking news. If he is happy with the decision, what can I do. He is my son.

“How nice of him to say that he wanted to apologise to all the fans and intended to shake hands with every spectator at the National Stadium during the matches.”

Meanwhile, Bernama reports that FAM’s independent council member Khairy Jamaluddin has quit his post with immediate effect

In a letter to the FAM general secretary Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, Khairy said his move was a mark of respect to Tengku Abdullah’s decision to resign from the association
Taken from The Star

Bad News, Good News

2007-07-17T02:39:00.000-07:00

You can't always have it all. Here's good news and bad news. Choose which one is which.

FAM president not quitting, instead to head taskforce to investigate debacle

FAM president Sultan Ahmad Shah said today he would not quit the national football body.

Saying he was a fighter, he told a press conference that a task force headed by him had been formed to investigate the
football debacle.

The task force would also plan for the future of Malaysian football, he said. He also announced that FAM secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad had tendered his resignation.
Taken from the New Straits Times

Ibrahim to give up the hot seat

PETALING JAYA: The FA of Malaysia (FAM) general secretary, Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, will vacate the hot seat when his two-year term expires next month.

The FAM president, Sultan Ahmad Shah, said he had received in writing from Ibrahim of his intention not to renew his contract after his last day in office on Aug 15.

“He (Ibrahim) has done a good job. I must thank him,” said the Sultan. Ibrahim took over the post from Datuk Dell Akbar Khan two years ago.
Taken from The Star

First To Go Part Three

2007-07-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

What perplexes me is, how many Deputy Presidents are there in FAM? It seems everyone and their uncles are Deputy Presidents there.

So the TM of Pahang resigns. BorakBola is following the story with great interest to find out:

a) Who else will follow or get the hint
b) How soon will the 'Pujuk Army' grovel on their knees and beg the TM to come back to the fold

We will not be surprised if TM suddenly do an about-turn and decides to retract his resignation. Remember how things work in this country? FAM have not decided to accept the resignation or not. TM could always say, "I wanted too, but the people still want me and I feel I have a job to do/my responsibilities/there are things still to be done". Yes, we are skeptical about because stranger things have happened before.

After all, in earlier news report, this what King Yob had to say,

FAM vice-president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin said: "I am shocked that he resigned. This is not acceptable because it’s not his fault alone.I am seeking an appointment with him to try and persuade him to stay on. I will ask the general secretary to call for an emergency executive council meeting on this matter."

Of course at this time people are unsure where the General Secretary of FAM is. He's out there somewhere.

and sadly, the rest within the FAM have not been singing the same tune.

Denial
Denial is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person faced with a fact that is uncomfortable or painful to accept rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimization) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference). ...

Missing Person - UPDATED

2007-07-17T02:16:00.000-07:00

Don't bother with returning the Missing Person we indicated earlier in the posting below. He can now stay away for all we care.

Missing Person

2007-07-17T02:14:00.000-07:00

MISSING PERSON

Answers to the name of Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad, (apparently) Secretary-General of FAM and Batu Kawan UMNO Chief.

Frequent Hangouts: Usually rarely in the stadium unless its an away match overseas. Always there for press conferences when there are: Menteries, Funds and Sponsorship Issues, Cake Cuttings or TV coverages

Last Seen: According to news report, have been away abroad on 'personal business' despite the fact that Malaysia is one of the hosts of the AFC Asian Cup tournament

Favourite Words: Its the State FA fault/Foreign Coach's fault/Local Coach's fault/Players' fault/Field/We are too short/They are too tall/They are too fast/Not enough money/Jerseys too tight/Not FAM/Not us/Not me

If found please return to the nearest State FA or Wisma FAM

First To Go Part Two

2007-07-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

Tengku Mahkota Pahang Resigns

KUALA LUMPUR: The atrocious performance of the national football team claimed its first casualty yesterday.

The Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, has tendered his resignation as deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

"It is with deep regret that I would like to inform you that I have decided to resign from all my positions in the FAM effective today (yesterday)," he said in the letter, signed by his personal secretary Datuk Zainal Abidin Abu Bakar, to FAM secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad.

In the three-paragraph letter, he thanked Ibrahim and staff for their support but did not give any reason for the resignation. It would appear that he has read the mood of Malaysians.

They are yearning to see Malaysia, which once had the strongest team in Southeast Asia, win at least one important match.

His resignation comes on the heels of a 5-0 humiliation suffered by the national team at the feet of Uzbekistan on Saturday in an Asian Cup game.

On Tuesday, China handed Malaysia a 5-1 drubbing. Abdullah apologised to fans for the team’s listless performance.

Over the past 10 years, the performance could only be described as an embarrassment. Malaysia is the last ranked team in the Asian Cup. It is ranked 149 in the Fifa world rankings.

It is likely more FAM officials will either resign or decline to contest at the FAM annual congress in September.

Sources said Tengku Abdullah and FAM president Sultan Ahmad Shah had, even before the Asian Cup tournament, decided to step down at the congress.

There is talk that another royal will take over as FAM head. A young politician is said to be the likely candidate for the deputy presidency.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman and several FAM council members expressed shock over Tengku Abdullah’s decision.

"Tengku Abdullah alone is not responsible for the state football is in today nor Malaysia’s defeats in the (ongoing) Asian Cup," Azalina said yesterday.

"It is a collective responsibility. We are losing a capable leader but I believe that he has made the right decision after giving it a great deal of thought. I hope this makes football officials take notice and some positive results will come out of this whole episode."

Another deputy president, Datuk Redzuan Sheikh Ahmad, felt Tengku Abdullah should have waited for the FAM congress before making his decision.

"Yes, he had indicated to us (his decision to quit) for quite some time, but he could have waited until the congress. I am sure he would have given it serious thought before making his decision," he said.

FAM vice-president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin said: "I am shocked that he resigned. This is not acceptable because it’s not his fault alone. I am seeking an appointment with him to try and persuade him to stay on. I will ask the general secretary to call for an emergency executive council meeting on this matter."

National team manager and vice-president Datuk Anifah Aman said: "Tengku Abdullah alone is not responsible for the state of football in the country. We have a collective responsibility.

"We must face the reality that we can’t go far with the present batch of national players. We must start grassroots development again."
Taken from The New Straits Times

Almost There

2007-07-17T01:52:00.000-07:00

With group matches nearing conclusion for the 2007 Asian Cup, Malaysia might end up as the ONLY team not picking up any points in the competition. With Oman and Qatar getting 2 points each in their respective groups. Malaysia will be the LAST among the 16 teams, unless the team draw with Iran tomorrow (very unlikely) and Korea losing their match against Indonesia (possible). Korea now has only 1 point after drawing with Saudi Arabia and losing to Bahrain.

All bets are off for Malaysia to remain last.

Fokus Bola on RTM1

2007-07-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

On Monday (16 June) evening at 8.45pm there was a special edition of RTM1's Fokus Bola. It was called, "Apa Dah Jadi?" (Literally - What happened?). Fokus Bola is a one-hour TV talk show discussing about local football issues. It usually includes dialogue with viewers who call to join the show’s virtual community and take part in a civil exchange of ideas.

The guests invited were Datuk Anifah Aman, (Deputy President of FAM and current manager of the Pasukan Kebangsaan); Datuk Paduka Haji Ahmad Basri Akil, (the 'father of development' for Kedah football and vocal critic of FAM) and Rashid Hassan, (former National, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur goalkeeper and in BorakBola's view, one of THE man that ever protected the Malaysian goal). It was moderated by the experienced host and commentator, Zainal Abidin Rawop

Monday's show was a commendable effort by the Unit Sukan TV of RTM to provide a platform to discuss about the current malady affecting the state of football in the country - perhaps jolted by the resignation of the Deputy President of FAM, the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang on Sunday and Malaysia's poor performance so far in the 2007 Asian Cup.

However, despite some valid points raised and discussed by the guests or presented by the callers, to be honest there's nothing new or nothing extraordinarily shocking that the average Malaysian football fan don't already know. It is basically the same thing over and over again. Like playing a bad record.

In a nutshell, it's all down to poor development and transition between and from the youth to senior level at all sides, be it State or National and in truth, despite all the arguments and excuses thrown around, this is simply down to poor and irresponsible management.

Of course, it boils down deeper than that as there as many other factors involved but that is one of the biggest reason why football in this country has reached such a level.

Anyway, BorakBola would like to touch one issue in particular which was raised during the show. Fokus Bola had a quick SMS survey asking viewers whether Malaysia should start to use naturalised foreign players in the national team (see half of Singapore National Team, Quintana for Bahrain, Alex and Tulio Tanaka for Japan etc)

55% replied to say YES while 44% said NO. Datuk Paduka Haji Ahmad Basri said "not yet", while Datuk Anifah (being the politician that he is) cleverly said, "we are not closed to the idea". Rashid Hassan summed it best, "No, it's as if our own people are not capable of doing it ourselves"

BorakBola's stand on this? NO!

A few reasons for this:

Firstly, do not judge the current crop of national players as representation that Malaysians cannot play football. We cannot allow poor selection or poor management and development preventing us to see the real picture, the real issue behind all this. It is NOT that we don't have players that are capable of playing, it is because the talents have not been spotted, developed, cultured, trained or selected properly. Having naturalised, foreign born players will not solve the problems in the long run, it will only (perhaps) provide us with a stop-gap, quick-fix solution. What we need to see is development for the future. Surely, with a population of over 27 million people, there MUST be an Anak Malaysia - be it Malay, Chinese, Indian or even Orang Asli that is better than one or two imported player (who cannot even start in his own national team otherwise). Yes, the situation is dire but how desperate are we that we need to resort to importing players from another country?

Remember that current Asian Cup quarterfinalist, Vietnam, does not have any foreign-born players on their roster. So does Indonesia and Thailand. Of course, we realise that all of these countries have bigger populations to choose from than Malaysia (therefore a bigger pool to choose from) but without proper selection, management and training by the relevant bodies and organisation in those countries, it wouldn't mean a thing. (India for example, is the second most populated country in the world, but without good management they have yet to produce a world class football team. And UAE has a population of less than 5 million, yet we even have problems beating them)

We shouldn't look at Singapore simply for their inclusion of foreign citizens in their team. Theirs is a simple case of, small population = need to win immediately at all cost. Which is why they also have foreign table-tennis and badminton players. In anyway, while they have become the current ASEAN champions in football, remember it is their Singaporean-born players who usually pose more threats. As can be seen from the recent friendly against Australia, players like Khairul Amri and Indra Sahdan were giving the Aussies a good run for their money. And their youth football development is good. Will Malaysia one day be able to introduce 16 years olds like Hariss Harun on an international match against top class team like Singapore did? Not likely if we don't something about football development at this country [NB: BorakBola will start to include news from the junior national teams soon, as we do have some exciting young talents out there]

We are not surprised by the poll result. Understandably a section of the Malaysian football fans are fed-up with the team losing on a continuous basis. Many would like to see something happening right now. Plus it is only natural, that in a country where over half of the population are more passionate about foreign clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus and Manchester United, that the average fan wouldn't mind supporting a national team filled with non-Malaysian born players. As long as the team wins. But we do not agree with winning desperately.

BorakBola may not like Khairy Jamaluddin politically and personally, but he has a few things right when it comes to football. UPB-MY Team have qualified for the Super League next season and in most of the games he has been there on the sidelines supporting his team. He is also one of the few in FAM who showed support for Norizan Bakar when everyone on FAM was flaming the coach and we must admit, although maybe the intention was not 100% honourable when the MyTeam project was launched last year, the idea was there - go around the country to find people who want to play, who could play and train them. If only Khairy would assist FAM by providing a helpful solution to improve football in the country (and not by trying to 'prove a point' by asking to play against the National Team). Rumours has it he could be one of the people in line to be in the new, 'revamped' FAM line-up. We shall wait and see.

Khairy with MyTeam

Lastly, if Malaysia still would want to go down the same road as Singapore, we must remember that if the root of the problem remains, nothing will change. Get even Ronaldinho in the team and still we are bound to lose matches if the system fails. Japan has come a long way since the days of Wagner Lopes and Ruy Ramos. Japanese players such as Hide Nakata and Nakamura are better than Alex Santos and even then, Alex came to Japan when he was 15. With Tulio Tanaka being the only foreign player (and his father is Japanese) in the current football team, Japan is also slowly going away with foreign born players. (Note that Under-21 players like Lee Tadanori and Mike Havenaar are Japanese-born and thereby Japanese so they don't count)

NB: One of the callers yesterday was Irfan Bakti, remember him? Guess where he is now? Irfan is now the Head Coach of Persipura Jayapura, one of the top teams in Liga Indonesia. Persipura's players include Timnas players such as goalkeeper Jendry Pitoy, Ricardo Salampessy and Boaz Sollosa. Respect!

Is There A Leader In The House?

2007-07-15T21:36:00.001-07:00

BorakBola would like to remain apolitical but would like to ask a few questions:

"Was there anyone from the Malaysian cabinet that came to watch the game yesterday at Bukit Jalil?"

"Was the Minister in charge for sports there?"

We were just wondering how much the leaders really care about football in this country. One leader was quite vocal about the Manchester United trip. Of all the leaders in this country, BorakBola kept hoping for Him to turn up. But we don't think He did or will ever do.

For everyone's info, SBY actually came and supported Indonesia when the Timnas played their hearts out against Saudi Arabia last night. Fancy that.

Uzbekistan v Malaysia (Asian Cup)

2007-07-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Uzbeks trounce sorry Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - Maksim Shatskikh scored a brace as Uzbekistan kept alive their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 with a 5-0 demolition of Malaysia at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Saturday.

The central Asian side took advantage of sloppy defending by the co-hosts to race into a 3-0 lead by half-time through goals by Shatskikh and Timur Kapadze and a stoppage time penalty by Ulugbek Bakaev.

Server Djeparov rocked the crossbar in the second half before substitute Aziz Ibragimov and Shatskikh added late goals to seal an emphatic victory for the Uzbeks in the Group C clash.

Following contrasting opening defeats, both coaches rung the changes with four alterations apiece.

Shatskikh, who had missed Uzbekistan’s 2-1 defeat against Iran through suspension, replaced Pavel Solomin up front, goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov took over from Pavel Bugalo, Anzur Ismailov replaced Aziz Ibragimov in defence, and Victor Karpenko came in for the injured Aziz Haydarov.

Meanwhile, Malaysia coach Norizan Bakar brought in defenders V.Thirumurugan and K.Nanthakumar, attacking midfielder Mohammed Ivan Yusoff and Indra Putra Mahayuddin for Fauzie Nan, Fadzli Saari, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and Akmal Rizal Rakhli as the co-hosts looked to bounce back from a 5-1 hammering against China.

However, the Malaysian defensive frailties that had been apparent against China were exposed once again in the 10th minute when the Uzbeks were awarded a free-kick following Rosdi Talib’s foul on Bakaev near the left touchline.

Djeparov swung in the kick which flew just over the head of a leaping Islom Inomov but dropped nicely for an unmarked Shatskikh, who stooped to head the bouncing ball past Azizon Kadir at the far post

Stung by the early setback, the home side came to life and enjoyed a good passage of play highlighted by Shahrulnizam Mustapha’s toe-poke from the edge of the box in the 20th minute which was deflected wide of Ignatiy Nesterov’s right post by an Uzbek defender.

However, Malaysia’s efforts to get back into the game would be completely undermined by another soft goal on the half-hour.

Following a giveaway by the Malaysians in their own half, Karpenko latched on to Timur Kapadze’s pass and surged into the box past half-hearted challenges by Khaironisam Sahabuddin Hussain and K.Nanthakumar before firing a rising shot past a helpless Azizon.

The home side continued to battle and went close to pulling a goal back when Hardi Jaafar’s free kick from 35 metres bounced in front of Nesterov forcing an awkward save from the Uzbek goalkeeper.

Hairuddin Omar also went close when he headed Shahrulnizam’s cross wide from 10 metres.

But any hopes that the hosts had of getting back into the match evaporated just before the half-time whistle when Azizon conceded a penalty for chopping down an advancing Bakaev.

The Uzbek striker picked himself up and confidently stroked the ball past the Malaysian keeper to give his side a three-goal advantage at the break.

Uzbekistan could have made it four early in the second half when Djeparov threaded a pass through to Shatskikh on the left of the Malaysian box, the Dynamo Kiev striker firing across Azizon and just wide of the far post.

Shatskikh then set up Ibragimov with a nice lay-off in the 56th minute but the substitute’s effort was deflected over the crossbar by a Malaysian defender.

Malaysia’s best chance of the half came in the 59th minute following a nice piece of skill by Indra Putra, who received the ball from Nor Farhan Muhammad and flicked the ball with the back of his heel past Hayrulla Karimov before shooting narrowly wide of the Uzbek goal.

Djeparov then rocked the cross bar with a shot from the edge of the box on 67 minutes.

On 79 minutes, Khaironnisam nearly atoned for his earlier defensive lapse as he burst into the box and delivered a dangerous low cross that deflected off Nesterov just past his left upright.

In the 82nd minute, Shatskikh released Alexander Geynrikh with a neat through ball but the substitute fired his effort wide.

But Uzbekistan’s fourth would finally arrive in the 85th minute when Pavel Solomin crossed from the right to an unmarked Ibragimov, who side-footed a volley past Azizon from 15 metres.

Shatskikh then added his second in the 89th minute, finishing from close range after a neat exchange of passes between Djeparov and Kapadze had carved apart the Malaysian defence.

Azizon prevented any further damage by tipping over a Solomin effort in stoppage time but the comprehensive defeat is only likely to add to the pressure on under-fire Malaysia coach Norizan Bakar, whose side are all but eliminated from the tournament.
Taken from AFC Asian Cup website

First To Go

2007-07-15T02:04:00.000-07:00

Taken from The Star
Tengku Abdullah resigns as FAM deputy president

KUALA LUMPUR: Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has resigned with immediate effect, after Malaysia's humiliating defeats in the Asian Cup Finals.

The national team was whipped 1-5 by China in their opening match on Tuesday and trounced 0-5 by Uzbekistan on Saturday. Both matches were played at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

The heavy defeats have put Malaysia out of the running for a quarter-final berth.

At least he is responsible enough. More on this

TONIGHT! UZBEKISTAN v MALAYSIA

2007-07-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

Group C will go into its Second Matchday this evening with the Pasukan Kebangsaan playing against another strong Asian team, Uzbekistan. Kick-off will be at a strange time of 6.20pm. Expect to see a lot of changes to the starting line-up for Malaysia and also a decrease in stadium attendance compared to the game on Tuesday.

For the record Malaysia have met Uzbekistan twice before, in 1994 at the Asian Games in Hiroshima (where Malaysia lost 5-0) and in 1999 in a friendly in Samarkand where the host beat Malaysia 3-0.

Uzbekistan
For everyone's recollection, the former Soviet bloc actually won that same Asian Games gold medal in Hiroshima, winning all 7 games. But their foray into the AFC competitions have not been successful eversince. They missed out on qualifying in the 1996 Asian Cup, but managed to join the competition anyway at the last minute due to the disqualification of the Phillipines. Losing two of the three matches, Uzbekistan came out bottom of their group.

Although their qualified for the next Asian Cup in Lebanon, again they came out last in the group. Having drawn their opening game with Qatar 1-1, they were then torn apart by eventual champion Japan, who thumped the Uzbeks 8-1, the second largest margin in Asian Cup history.

They were more competitive in the recent Asian Cup in China, winning all of their group games but losing out to Bahrain on penalties. They lost to Iran 1-2 in the their first group match in this current edition of the Asian Cup, and will be looking for a win to keep their hope of reaching the quarters alive. They team is coached by former Uzbekistan U-23 boss Rauf Inileyev. Inileyev has a talented squad at his disposal with Dynamo Kiev’s Maksim Shatskikh still in his goal-scoring prime while Server Djeparov has taken over much of the creative duties since Kasimov stood down

Players to watch: Maksim Shatskikh - star player from Dynamo Kiev, the Uzbek Svechenko as they call him.

Malaysia
There will changes to the team, with Nantha probably starting from the looks of it, as Norizan took the lanky defender along for his pre-match conference. Norizan will probably stick with Azizon in goal, as the custodian have been given a special counselling session by the goalkeeping coach and will be keen to amend for his nervy performance in the first match.

BorakBola is unsure who between Fauzie and Rosdi will stay, but definitely one of them will go. We are hoping that Kedah's Thiru will be given a chance to show his stuff.

Despite playing badly against China, Kaironnisam would probably still start as he is the captain after all and between him and Norhafiz and the inexperienced Poster Boy Aidil Zafuan, we rather have the captain in the first eleven. Better the devil than the deep blue sea.

BorakBola cannot figure the other two players that will join Hardi and Shukor (Norizan's favourite) in midfield. As we have mentioned before in this blog, Eddy Helmi is good as a replacement player and not a starter, and again Norizan should include him as a subsitute, perhaps earlier in the second half. There's Ivan Yusof as an option to either Fadzli or Shahrulnizam.

Indra should get the nod to lead the line this time, perhaps Norizan can have Akmal and Indra as the strikers, as we are not convinced Hairuddin will find the net in the Asian Cup tournament.

Players to watch: Indra Putra and K Nanthakumar - hoping that the changes will bring results

See you guys tonite!

Taken from The Star
Coach Norizan to ring the changes

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will make major changes to their starting line-up for the match against Uzbekistan at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.

Coach Norizan Bakar said that it was back to the drawing board to chart their strategies for the remaining two matches in Group C following the heavy 1-5 defeat by China in their opening match on Tuesday.

“We need to make changes and we learnt it the hard way in our opening game,” said a disappointed Norizan of his side, who had difficulties coping with the Chinese onslaught and paid dearly for their poor tactical discipline in defence.

“It was obvious that we did not cut off the crosses well. When the whole defence cracks against a strong attacking side like China, we are in big trouble.”

The defenders who started against China were skipper Mohd Kaironissam Sahabuddin and Norhafiz Zamani Misbah at centreback, leftback Rosdi Talib and rightback Fauzie Nan. And they were a big letdown.

But there was nothing much Malaysia could do against the tactically sound Chinese, who made good use of their physical advantage to cruise to an easy victory.

Knowing that they were up against taller opponents, it was a surprise that Norizan left out the lanky K. Nanthakumar from the starting line-up. In fact, all the goals conceded were off the Chinese aerial raids.

Besides Nanthakumar, who came in at the half hour mark, the other defenders in the team are Mohd Hamzani Omar, Nazrulerwan Makmor, V. Thirumurugan and Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak.

Norizan felt that his team should be able to pick up the pieces for the matches against Uzbekistan and Iran (July 18).

The only consolation for Norizan was the neat set-piece which his men pulled off in the 73rd minute.

It was their best move of the night by the Malaysians with Hardi Jaafar squaring the ball to Hairuddin Omar, who relayed it to Indra Putra Mahayuddin to strike a first-timed shot into goal.

“If only the boys can come up with more of such set- pieces to score goals, we should get better results,” said Norizan.

War Cries Part 2

2007-07-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Akmal Issues Rallying Call

KUALA LUMPUR – Striker Akmal Rizal Rakhli has called on his Malaysia teammates to raise their game on Saturday against Uzbekistan and get a result that would restore faith in Norizan Bakar’s side after their 5-1 defeat to China.

The Selangor forward admits that the mood in the Malaysia camp has been low since their heavy loss to the Chinese in the Group C opener on Tuesday.

“Our team morale is now a bit down but we have to buck up and face our second game and prove to our fans and our country that we are here to fight,” said the 25-year-old.

“If we keep thinking about our 5-1 loss to China, we will find it very difficult to face Uzbekistan and might even lose more heavily against them.

“Whatever happens, we have to face Uzbekistan and we have to prove that we are not the type of team that the Malaysian media described so negatively in the first couple of days after the loss.

“Personally speaking, I want to play and I want to score, but most of all, I want to ensure that we don’t lose our next game.”

Akmal is not expecting an easy ride against an Uzbek side still smarting from a 2-1 defeat to Iran on Wednesday.

“It will be a tough game for us because Uzbekistan are a good team. They play a different style of game which is more individual and in terms of technique, they are better than China.

“Whatever happens, we have to face them and perform at our very, very best to fight them.

“The most important thing is that we must regroup as a team and play as a unit to beat them.”
Taken from AFC Asian Cup Website

War Cries Part 1

2007-07-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some pre-match news before our next game against Uzbekistan tomorrow:

We Have To Raise Our Game

KUALA LUMPUR - Norizan Bakar has shaken off the heavy criticism levelled at his Malaysia team since their 5-1 loss to China in their AFC Asian Cup 2007 Group C opener, saying that it is all part and parcel of his job as Malaysian national coach.

Speaking in a pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s clash against Uzbekistan at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Saturday, Norizan said that he was unphased by the negative comments and lack of support received from the Football Association of Malaysia in the wake of Tuesday night’s debacle.

“This is the country, so it’s normal when you do badly in a game that you get all the critics saying not so nice things,” said the Malaysia coach.

“We have to admit that it was not a very good result that we had in our first game against China. We now have our second match against Uzbekistan and we have to rise to the occasion and do something about it.

“The only thing I can ask of the players is to give their best for the second game. We do not have a choice; we must play to our level best.”

While accepting much of the criticism, Norizan was keen to emphasize the need to look ahead to upcoming games.

“I think we have to forget about the China game and concentrate on Uzbekistan,” he said.

“I’m sure everybody is not happy with how we performed. We have talked about it and as players and human beings, we don’t want to be humiliated.

“So I’ve told them that as a team, we have to raise ourselves and give a positive approach in our next game.”

Norizan said that he and his coaching staff have worked out a game plan to match the Uzbeks, who lost their opener 2-1 to Iran. However, he was giving few clues as to what that plan actually involved.

“We have watched our game and Uzbekistan’s game, and we have done an analysis and prepared a game plan. We just want to do something and we hope that it will work out tomorrow.

“At this level of the game, we cannot play too defensive because we cannot stop the ball from coming in.

“And we cannot be too attack-oriented also because if you are too exposed at the back, the other team can capitalise on your mistakes.

“So we have to be really careful in our approach to tomorrow’s game.”

The Malaysia coach hinted that there might be changes to his starting line-up, but despite the presence of tall central defender K.Nanthakumar at the main table during the press conference, he gave few clues as to who might be dropped or recalled.

“The team that will play against Uzbekistan will only be finalised at the last hour.

“There are many assumptions and many things that we can put forward tomorrow. Nantha is one of the players in the squad and I suppose he is like one of the other players because he wants to show that we will try to go into the game tomorrow with a positive approach.”

Nanthakumar echoed his coach’s comments and emphasised his desire to help Malaysia to bounce back from their opening loss.

“If I play, I give my best. I want to win and do something against Uzbekistan,” said the Perak player.

“I don’t want to come here to lose three games. At least if we can get three points or a draw against Iran, that is something.

“We will give our best and try to improve. Anything can happen in football so we will just try our best.”
Taken from AFC Asian Cup Website

"It's All YOUR Fault"

2007-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

The new official tshirt of Football Association of Malaysia

With all due respect Tuanku, BorakBola must be brave here and say it clearly, that Your Highness' recent comments and blaming coach Norizan Bakar for the lost against China borders on self-denial and ignorance.

After the terrible loss to China, BorakBola for one believe that support for the team should remain, which is why this blog will continue to offer news, outlooks and opinions on the state of Malaysian national football and will also continue to watch the games at the stadium.

BorakBola's stand is simple: we love football, we love the national team and we want to see football in Malaysia improve. We are not part of the national body in charge to ensure the development and well-being of football in this country. As such what we can do and what we will do is limited to state what is the obvious, create awareness and offer reminders on how the situation is. More importantly, this is how the Malaysians fan feel. Unless BorakBola is offered a job at FAM, there is NOTHING that we can do FROM THE INSIDE, if the status quo remains and FAM does not want to change.

The first question that BorakBola would like to ask Your Highness is, "Who selected Norizan Bakar as the coach of Malaysia?"

It certainly wasn't the fans' idea.

The second question we would like to ask is, "Can Your Highness be so kind as to share with us a) Your actual role and responsibilities in FAM and b) How do people in FAM communicate or report to you"

For readers who are unaware where we are going with this - especially some at FAM who at times might have problem putting two and two together, it was FAM who chose coach Norizan Bakar for the post. BorakBola is unsure how FAM define the role and responsibilities of the head coach of a national football team but one of it we think should be is the ability to be trusted to select the players, to employ and use whaveter tactic is needed to bear the opposition - in short, you'd select the head coach because you know that person should be able to do the job.

Which probably makes us wonder, what was the selection criteria in the first place? Did FAM interview the candidates and ask them to present their plan for the team - their proposed training methods, players that they have in mind, team tactics and formation etc?

In anyway, this brings us directly to the point, that by criticising the head coach that YOUR organisation selected, you are, in truth, be condemning yourself. And as much as BorakBola is an avenue for constructive criticism, we do not agree with the habit of hanging our dirty laundry in public. Already the state of football in country at such a low level, you do not want your national FA to be mocked by the world. Would you imagine someone high in the English FA blasting the tactics employed by Steve McClaren? Sort out whatever internal matters internally, and not by telling the world that you are the nice guy and that you had nothing to do with it. If you are really not doing anything, at least try to help and provide solutions. Talk is cheap, which is why Tengku Mahkota should've left the talking to us.

This is one of the many problems affecting the FAM. Denials at all level. Blame others before taking responsibilities. Keep this up and we will fall so low down the ranking that the only way we won't be the last-ranked team is if FIFA accepts new countries into the body thereby propping us up.

And no thank you Tuanku, BorakBola won't shake your hand because saying sorry without really apologising is not apologising at all. Go on and shake the next fan in line.

TM blames coach Norizan, says sorry to fans

KUALA LUMPUR: A senior Malaysian football official has lashed out at the national team’s “shameful” 5-1 drubbing by China and warned of more trouble ahead for the Asian Cup co-hosts.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he wanted to apologise to each fan in person, blaming coach Norizan Bakar for Tuesday’s result.

“What a shameful display,” said the visibly upset Tengku Abdullah, according to the official Bernama news agency.

“I apologise to all the spectators and want to shake their hands. I am truly disappointed with their inept display.”

Tengku Abdullah could conceivably have carried out his promise with a tiny crowd watching the rout.

Malaysia were the first of the four hosts to lose after encouraging displays by Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

He rounded on coach Norizan, who was criticised for benching key centre-half K. Nanthakumar and leading striker Indra Putra Mahayuddin.

“The coach has the power to choose the players and he should know better.

“Only the coach and players will be able to say what happened that night. I was also a spectator,” said Tengku Abdullah.

“I hope there will not be a repeat of what happened that night but I am still wary of conceding more goals,” he added.
Taken from The Star

Malaysia v China - Players Performance Review

2007-07-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Players' Performance Review: Malaysia v China

Players are rated as Poor, Average or Good. In extreme cases other adjectives will be used.

Azizon Kadir - Poor
A nightmare start for the Negeri Sembilan custodian, an otherwise decent keeper. He was panicking and frantic the whole night - totally hopeless on crosses with his poor positional play and erratic footwork. Should learn to stay calm and composed and try to control and 'own' his own six yard box, by collecting all the crosses earlier and with confidence. Had little help from his defence though.

Fauzie Nan - Poor
At least two goals came in through crosses and penetration from his side of the field - one from a poor tackle, second his botched clearance. Overwhelmed by the marauding Chinese, couldn't contribute much during attack.

Nurhafiz Zamani - Poor
Perhaps rusty getting back to his 'old' position after playing in midfield. No understanding with Kaironnisam, perhaps both unsure what to do in defence, to mark anyone? To prevent penetration? Cannot compete with the taller and speedier China players.

Kaironnisam - Poor
One of the biggest letdown. A captain CANNOT lead a team with this kind of performance, was nowhere near Han Peng when the striker headed China's first goal, gave away the second goal with a ridiculous first touch. Generally, the reason he will play in the second game is because he is the team captain and because there's no one better to replace him. How depressing is that?

Rosdi Talib - Poor
A disappointing performance from an otherwise experienced player. Usually reliable, perhaps fitness not up to mark (and age catching up). Again, although Norizan Bakar mentioned the plan of preventing crosses down the flank, Rosdi was not covering anyone or marking anyone close enough.

K Nanthakumar - Average
Perhaps gave a shout that he should have started the game. Managed to stifled China's attack a little with his height.

Hardi Jaafar - Average
Managed to show one or two skills but otherwise was playing too deep at the back on the left to string in any effective passes. Erratic at times. One nice free-kick. Need to work on the corner deliveries. Good pass that started the solitary Malaysian goal.

Shukor Adan - Average
At least he worked hard in this game. But otherwise could do more by helping with the defence and contributing something more to the offence. Will Norizan Bakar feed this man a proper task for once?

Shahrulnizam - Poor
Not a good start to the tournament for the rookie. Missing in midfield and didn't know what to do.

Fadzli Saari - Poor
Like the rest of the midfield didn't provide much - nothing good in attack and didn't protect the defence. Like Shahrulnizam was substituted later in the match

Eddy Helmi - Average
Came in the second half but couldn't do much. Basically didn't see much of the ball anyway

Hairuddin Omar - Poor
Didn't get the service, cannot match the opposition's defence. Had one or two small chances that he couldn't capitalise. You won't get it on a silver platter when you play against the big boys - must learn to convert half chances.

Akmal - Average
Like Hairuddin, no service from the midfield. Like Hairuddin, had trouble running at defence (when they are faster and stronger than you). One good skill.

Indra Putra - Good
Superb goal.

A Little Too Late?

2007-07-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Asian Cup: Drastic changes in Malaysian line-up

By ERIC SAMUEL

PETALING JAYA: There will be drastic changes in the national football team's starting line-up for the Uzbekistan match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.

After the heavy loss to China (1-5) in the opening match of the Asian Cup campaign on Tuesday, coach Norizan Bakar said it was back to the drawing board to repair the damage ahead of the two remaining matches in Group C.

"There is bound to be changes in the starting line-up but we have learnt it the hard way in our opening game itself," said a disappointed Norizan after the Malaysians had no answer to the Chinese onslaught and paid dearly for their poor tactical discipline in defence.

"It is obvious we were unable to cut off the crosses and when the whole defence cracks against a strong attacking side like China ..... .... we are in big trouble," said Norizan.

There was nothing much Malaysia could do against the tactically sound Chinese players, who made good use of their physical advantage to cruise to this big win.

Norizan admitted that this was not the ideal way to start the Asian Cup campaign but felt that the team should pick up the pieces for the Uzbekistan game on Saturday and Iran on July 18.
Taken from The Star

Malaysia v China - Post Match Analysis

2007-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

"Trounced", "Overpowered", "Hammered", "Rout", "Hiding", "Memalukan", "Diperkotak-katikkan". These are some of the words written all over the sport sections in the newspapers and online news portals around the world on how the Malaysia fared in the opening match of Group C against China. It pains just read the words. It was even more painful being at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil itself seeing how the same old ugly head reared itself again and again. And this does not include what BorakBola would not even print what was screamed verbally by some of the frustrated fans yesterday.

Whatever pre-match hype that the team had before, are thrown out of the window. The doubters remain in doubt and the critics and non-believers justified and stand corrected.

BorakBola would like to try and be fair today, and leave FAM out of last night's game assessment, as we would like to highlight and discuss only the formation, tactics and performance of the Pasukan Kebangsaan yesterday. We will return to FAM in another write-up.

Fans
Coach Norizan Bakar, and FAM itself were asking for the fan's support. And the fans came, nearly 20,000 of them. Although it may seem like a small number considering the fact that the National Stadium can accommodate up to 80,000 people, we have to remember that it was a match held on a Tuesday in the Klang Valley and with promotions and publicity for the tournament abysmal to say the least, the number of fans that turned up yesterday was quite heartening.

BorakBola have already stated that the Malaysian fans are a fickle lot but very, very forgiving. Remember that this is the team that had lost their last two friendlies when other Asian Cup hosts won theirs. And this is also the team which is considered no-hopers and the bashing boys of the tournament. Yet the fans came decked in the yellow and black colours of the Pasukan Kebangsaan, carrying the Jalur Gemilang, singing songs, beating the drums and blowing into the home-made mini air-horns. Young and old, Malay, Chinese and Indian, even foreigners, parents with little children, husbands and wives, people came because they still believed. Despite whatever the feelings in the air was, the fans never stopped giving the team chances.

Hope is sometimes a dangerous thing to have, let alone to flame it again and again. And yet after tonight's performance, hope is something we must not let go for it is one of the few last thing we have and must hold on to. After the fourth goal was conceded by Malaysia, the fans were beginning to turn over their own team. Each player's touch was greeted with boos from the home fans and each attack by China was greeted with cheers. There were even minor scuffles, fight and taunting between the local fans. But to prove the point stated earlier, the stadium erupted again the moment Indra Putra slotted in Malaysia's only goal of the match and the fans were singing and chatting again

If the players are upset by the fans' reaction, they really shouldn't be. What we need to remember that the fans are an informed and knowledgable lot. Fed with quality performances shown on ASTRO from the English, Spanish and Italian leagues on a regular basis, the fans, BorakBola admit, are a demanding lot with high expectations. They KNOW quality when they see one. But bear in the mind the same set of fans are still grounded and rational, and do not expect the Malaysian players to be as skillful or talented as their European, South American and East Asian counterparts. They are not asking for the impossible - say to be beat Brazil. Judging from the comments heard after the game yesterday, what the fans want were passion, determination, commitment and some 'play with brains' shown by the Pasukan Kebangsaan. After all, if our neighbours and co-hosts Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand are able to put up a good fight and good show, why can't we? Around the country fans went to stadium or watching at home were silently saying to themselves, "we are here, surprise us." But the team did not. 1- 5 is surely what secretly some fans expected it to be, perhaps glad that it wasn't more. Malaysians knew it was a mountain of a task to begin with, yet disappointment still hang in the air.

Tactics and Formation
In truth, there is nothing wrong with a traditional, (or some might say a conservative) 4-4-2 set up. Like we stated earlier before the match, coach Norizan Bakar was mum about the exact starting line-up before the match. As the starting eleven's names were displayed on the scoreboards and the players paraded onto the field, BorakBola was quite surprised with the centreback pairing of Norhafiz Zamani - Kaironnisam because it means that coach Norizan was backtracking on his experiment of pushing our #5 to the midfield and it was also something daring to do to have a diminutive centreback defending against taller oppositions. We suspected it was because Norizan was adapting to China's 4-5-1 and not worrying about marking Han Peng. We expected the taller Nanthakumar to start to add height to an already vertically-challenged backline but this was not the case. We hoped that this was part of some interesting strategy that was cooked-up by the coach from Perlis. Other than that, the remaining starters were as expected. Here was the starting line-up:

In truth, here are somethings that we should already be aware off, but we keep failing to do anything about:
1) Nearly 3/4 of the team are simply, not able to perform in a world-class match, let alone don the national jersey.
2) Nearly all are not fit and lack basic technique such as passing the ball and controlling it or lacking first touch. If indeed most of the players are skillful, the basic element of even stopping the ball was missing altogether
3) The players sometimes lacked the composure and mental toughness needed in an international game
4) Thinking on the ball, creativity and the ability to follow match orders and to maintain discipline is also non-evident
5) With all of the above, playing long balls or kicking it over the top of the opposition's pitch time and time again in match versus a team filled with taller players who have ten times better technique is surely a recipe for disaster.

There is an on-going joke among fans that say, "are any of the players watching any Premiership, La Liga or Liga Italia games on TV? Because if only these players spend a year watching these games, they would know how to open up the game, and to play with their brain". Perhaps add some training by playing Konami's Winning Eleven series on the Sony Playstation2. Or even play futsal with the amateurs or weekend players at the many futsal centres around the country to develop their triangle passing game and first touch.

What was clear was that there is a big gap in terms of match awareness, the brain for the game and footballing techniques between the Malaysian national team and China. Why is this so? Is it because China has a bigger pool of talents to choose from? Better funding received from their government compared to ours? Better coaches and training methods?

What makes the fans more upset is because the same excuses are used again and again - "the opponent was more faster, taller, stronger etc". Perhaps it is a valid excuse but again, it takes a unique Asian Cup tournament that have four host from the same region - each having players around the same built and height, (perhaps) consuming the same type of food and diet, having around the same type of funding and development - to show that this reason no longer can be used freely. Each team should able to pull out all the resources available, play to their strongest abilities, and minimise the weaknesses.

Qatar knew technically they would not be able to pit individual talents against Australia, will almost half the team plying their trade at the English leagues, but they knew how Australia would turn up and play and were clever enough to maintain defensive discipline, working as a team allowing the Australians to press them and hitting them on the breaks instead. This tactic made the former Oceanic team exhausted in the hot and humid conditions and making them realise that a change of approach is needed and that switching to the AFC is not as easy as it looks.

Indonesia watched videos of Bahrain again and again and learned that the only way to stand a chance was to keep the ball on the ground.

Yet again and again Malaysia did not learn and realise that they are shorter than the Chinese, kicking the ball up in the air or allowing for high crosses.

And it's about time that we keep this "size matters" argument to rest for a while - because nearly half of the Mexican national team have a height on 1.70 m or 5'7" but this have not stopped them surely. It all boils down to the basics.

To quote a fan, Malaysian players need to learn to stroke the ball and love the ball. It was evident yesterday that the Malaysian players were treating the ball with disdain, and giving it no respect whereas the Chinese played with precision because they know how fast or how slow the ball needed to be passed, to be stroked. Five goals on poor field such as National Stadium. The fan wonders what the scoreline would have been in a faster, better pitch.

Apparently, from the post-match interviews, Malaysia went out with a plan. “The game plan tonight was to try and stop the crosses but as the game went on and China continued to move the ball, then we lost our shape and that is why there was room on the flanks.” but the plan failed because as Norizan put it, "tthen they did we tended to lose our discipline in terms of keeping our shape, ”.

Well Cikgu Jan, none of us at the stadium saw such plans. Both Fauzie Nan and Rosdi Talib were not marking or covering anyone on the flanks and most of China's attack started with a long, cross-field pass from their defence right up to their attacking players on the left and right side of the Malaysian penalty box where these players were unmarked, unnoticed by the Malaysian players (but noticed by 20,000 odd fans in the stands)

By the time the ball has reached these attacking players, it was a case of either Rosdi or Fauzie scurrying over to prevent the cross, only to be dummied or shimmied once by a step-over or outpaced, and a simple looping cross to find Han Peng's head and the centrebacks in dissarray not knowing who was now marking who or doing what.

Norizan added that “We have to learn that as a team we need to work together. We cannot simply sit back and do things as individuals and then make mistakes that will affect the team. With the quality players China have, we tried to have a positive approach and to match them not individually but as a team. As they progressed though, when one individual lost his concentration it impacted on the team."

We wonder whether this attitude is prevalent because the technical team forgot to drum the hard fact that football is a team game or because the players are too stubborn to accept it. Either way, it's appalling that already into the first match of the tournament that this matter was not or has not been addressed to earlier. Teamwork does not happen overnight.

Next: Player by Player Analysis

MATCH REPORT: Malaysia v China (Asian Cup)

2007-07-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

China thrash Malaysia in Cup opener

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 - China stormed to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Asian Cup co-hosts Malaysia on Tuesday, putting on the most impressive display of the tournament so far as they cruised to victory in their Group C opener.

The 2004 runners-up became the first of the favoured teams to score a victory in the tournament after Australia and defending champions Japan were held to respective 1-1 draws by Oman and Qatar in their opening group matches.

Despite enjoying home advantage, Malaysia failed to emulate the performances of fellow southeast Asian co-hosts Vietnam and Indonesia, both of whom scored surprise victories in their first games. Thailand are the other nation hosting the 16-team tournament that culminates with the final in Jakarta on July 29.

Although happy with the victory, China coach Zhu Guanghu said his team lost their discipline in allowing Malaysia to score after leading 4-0. "I am concerned that Malaysia managed to fight back and score against us," Zhu told reporters.

"Before that we were in control and were disciplined. We showed character to go out and score a fifth goal, but we will certainly investigate why we allowed them to score and try not to let it happen again."

China's goal rush began after just 15 minutes when striker Han Peng headed in Wang Dong's high cross from the right after Malaysia's defence was split open by some dynamic approach play. Midfielder Shao Jiayi, who plays for Energie Cottbus in the German Bundesliga, doubled the lead after 36 minutes with another free header.

Any hopes of a Malaysian comeback were dashed six minutes after the break when Wang made it 3-0 with a snap-shot from outside the box that deflected in off defender Fauzie Nan. Han made it 4-0 with his second goal of the match four minutes later, when he turned in Mao Jianqing's cross from the left.

Malaysia scored a consolation goal in the 73rd minute when substitute Indra Putra beat Li Leilei with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area, but Wang restored Chinas four-goal advantage with a looping header in the final minute.
Taken from Reuters

Where To Get Your Tickets

2007-07-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

So bad that the tournament is organised by the local organisers here in Malaysia that many do not know where to purchase the tickets to watch the games here in Kuala Lumpur for the 2007 Asian Cup. BorakBola agree tremendously with comments left by readers regarding the difficulty to purchase tickets. The funny thing is that, it is not like getting a ticket for the World Cup where it is hard to obtain because it is sold out, it is simply because there is a serious lack of information on where to get them. We tried to look for information on ticket sales in the local media but even then there were none. Funny that when they asked the fans to come and watch the game.

And yes, why is Axcess, a Malaysian company manages online ticket bookings for tickets for the Indonesian games and some company unheard of is managing the games here in KL? BorakBola believe the word here is cronyism.

Let us explain again how tickets can be obtained. There are two way of purchasing; online booking and through kiosk. With online booking, tickets must be collected later in person at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil where the ticketing counter at the Green, Yellow and Red gates are open daily from 10 am - 6 pm and up to 10 pm on match days. BorakBola would like to suggest against purchasing tickets online as the hassle is simply not worth it because there is no way that tickets will be sold out that you would need to book ahead in person.

Which leaves the fan to purchase the tickets through the ticketing kiosks which are:
a) Wisma FAM
b) All State FAs
c) All TMPoint Shops or Kedai Telekom
d) Ticket Counters at National Stadium

You'd be silly to go and buy at Wisma FAM because God knows how they'd do it there. So TMPoint would be an option. Unfortunately, there are open until 5 pm daily so do your ticket runs before that.

Our recommendation: Go to the stadium earlier on match days and buy your tickets there.

Tickets are RM 30 for grandstand (near Red Gate), RM 10 for behind the goals (near Yellow Gate) and RM 20 for normal stand (near Green Gate). Real Malaysian fans go to the Green Gate. So buy the RM 20 and resort to the RM 30 only if you can find a close seats to FAM official to mock them.

For your convenient, here are the locations of TMPoints around town, (please click the thumbnail)

For any info, call +603 4149 8600 or +605 7873 3133 (don't worry, someone will pick up, we tried yesterday)

TONIGHT! MALAYSIA v CHINA

2007-07-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

The first game of Group C kicks-off tonite at National Stadium, Bukit Jalil at 8.35 pm. Malaysia will play against one of the Asian giants, China. On paper it will be an uphill task for the Pasukan Kebangsaan. Already dubbed as the 'whipping boys' of the tournament, and ranked as the lowest among the 16 teams, Malaysia is keen to give a good display. On the flip side, the pressure will perhaps be on China, who are unsure what to expect with the host, despite fielding a string of top names plying their trade in European leagues themselves. Which is why they won't take the match lightly. Already the field itself may or may not affect the game, as an insider with the National Team told BorakBola that the field at Bukit Jalil is "rock hard" and bumpy. BorakBola saw in the match against Jamaica that the turf itself looked soft on top yet firm and uneven below as patches of grass came off in many parts of the field and the ball was bumping along during ground passes.

Will the fans give the Pasukan Kebangsaan another chance and come in droves to support the team? We shall see tonite. According to reports ticket sales have not been positive but this is also the case in other host countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. BorakBola believes that the trend in the region would be for last minute buying among the fans. One thing is for sure, the result tonight, or how Malaysia perform would determine the number of fans for later matches - as it was the case during the last Tiger Cup. Play well and lose and still the fans will come, but play badly and the numbers will dwindle.

China
The Chinese team, coached by Zhu Guanghu will have the services of several foreign-based players – notably Sun Jihai (Manchester City), Zheng Zhi (Carlton Athletic), Shao Jiayi (Energie Cottbus) and Dong Fangzhuo (Manchester United). Zhu will probably rue his decision not include top striker Li Jinyu in the Asian Cup squad as top midfielder and former Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers player, Qu Bo was forced to leave the pitch in the last training session with a foot injury. But they will also have the service of striker Han Peng who netted two goals in friendly against Uzbekistan earlier this year.

Many back home in China have criticised the team's approached as being too defensive and believed that poor showings in friendlies before this tournament means that China might not be able to sustain a strong challenge for the Cup. It is crucial that Malaysia retain the possesion of the ball and not resort to punting long balls over the top the way they played against Jamaica. Doing this would definitely spell doom for Malaysia. China have many tall players in the squad who are fast, posseses good technical skill as well speed but they would probably struggle to cope with the hot and humid conditions here (as shown by Australia in the Group A match against Oman). China has also shown to be poor travellers as they have struggled in their away matches so far - even losing to Thailand recently.

Players to watch: all those foreign-based dudes.

Malaysia
Coach Norizan Bakar is still keeping his cards close to his chest with the starting line-up. He is expected to start with his trusted 4 - 2 - 2 formation. However, there are some certainties about who would start the game tonite. It is mentioned in many articles that the defence have been the main concern for the coach with the Norizan testing out several combinations in the centre of defence during training. However, we at BorakBola believe that the major concern for the national team should be at the midfield as the combination of Norhafiz and Shukor has shown to be ineffective in the last 3 friendly matches. It seems that both players are unsure their exact roles are and are not playing to their true potential.

Norhafiz, who have been playing at centreback in the team prior to his 'relocation' to midfield, have not been played to his strong point, which is his defensive qualities and have not provided cover or protected the defence as we thought he should. There were on many occassions that he (and Shukor) was caught in no-man's land and the goals conceded by the team was due to balls that penetrated through the middle by the opposition or because the defence had no assistance or support from the midfields. We still believe that Norhafiz should play in the middle, perhaps slightly in front of the back four in the classic number #4 or Defensive Midfielder position ala Claude Makalele, roaming across the middle and preventing easy penetration and passes and relieve the load off the centre-backs, as he is also a good reader of the game and a decent stopper.

Shukor Adan simply have not impressed us during the friendlies as we are at odds to determine his exact duties. A centre mid? A box-to-box midfielder like Steven Gerrard? A creative midfielder? A cover? He was everything and nothing all at one and was frustrating to watch at times. Shukor fades in and out of matches - a bit like Jekyll and Hyde. He needs to be more hardworking and lead by example, as he is a strong player but has shown of late to have poor positioning skills. We hope he will do more and provide more than one or two good passes in the game. Either you contribute to the defence or to the offence. He's definitely able to muscle-in among the big Chinese boys as physically and technically he is quite good but we have yet to see this on a regular basis. Let's hope it is the good Shukor Adan that is turning out to play tonight (if he has recovered from his ankle injury sustained during training).

The experienced Rosdi Talib will surely start at leftback while Fauzie Nan is expected to be at rightback. We think Norizan is still unsure who will partner skipper Mohd Kaironissam Sahabuddin in central defence and we believe that K. Nanthakumar should start, being the tallest player in the team. Of late however Norizan has been trying out Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and even Mohd Aidil Zafuan to partner Kaironissam so there might some changes here tonight.

Azizon Kadir will definitely start at goal as he has been quite reliable in the matches so far. While Akmal hopefully is fit enough to partner Hairuddin upfront. BorakBola is hoping that Hardi will provide the creative spark sorely needed in attack and that he take cares of himself on field and show us some magic with his cultured left foot. Mohd Fadzli Saari is having a good run-up so far and should start on the right as Eddi Helmie is more deadly as a super-sub, hopefully running riot on the flanks when the Chinese are tired.

Players to watch: ALL of them. This is the first match to change everything that is wrong about football in Malaysia after all.

See you guys tonite!

Let The Asian Cup Begin! Err...What Asian Cup?

2007-07-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the AFC Asian Cup tournament! The Pasukan Kebangsaan will 'turun padang' tonight playing in the first match of Group C playing against the runners-up of the previous Asian Cup, China.

For those of you who are not aware that there's a game tonite, let alone that we are already into the third day of the 2007 Asian Cup, I don't blame you. For the record, the local organisers (who I suspect must be FAM) have been simply, APPALLING! I wonder whether the organisers were given funds before hand and if they did, what have they been doing with it?

Promotion has been pityful, if we can even call them that. There's a small black & white corner print ad in some English dailies maybe a few weeks before the start of the tournament; buntings started to crop around city centres a week before; there are some RapidKL buses covered in the ad; there's a link on the website for the The Star; perhaps some mention in the sport section on TV news; apparently there were two events organised by Nike in Dataran Merdeka and Shah Alam which nobody knew (except people who knew Nike). It was so bad that according to news report, there weren't even anything to welcome the teams that were staying at the official hotel here.

Malu! And this is Visit Malaysia Year. The country's 50th years since independence. And the biggest FIFA-sanctioned tournament for the continent. Heck, even the Champions Youth Cup have more placements in the newspaper. Maybe it's because 99% of the farts at our national FA are Manchester United fans and are still upset the they are unable to watch the current EPL Champs gracing the hard turf of Bukit Jalil and forgot that the Asian Cup is going on.

I say that Nike Malaysia is guilty as well. Nike Indonesia are going around calling out "Ini Kandang Kita!" and a special publicity drive for the Timnas - with special billboards for Ponaryo Astaman, Bambang and Elie Aboy. But heard anything new from Nike Malaysia lately?

That aside. I hope that all these won't distract the focus of the team. After poor showings in friendly matches against UAE and Jamaica, the national team is struggling to give a good account for themselves - with many section of the fans have already written off their chances. While the country's expectations remained low, apathetic even, members of the Pasukan Kebangsaan themselves are eager to give a good showing in the tournament and prove doubters wrong. We hope that this is not merely lip service and that they really mean business, because in football anything can happen. Results from the other groups have given the team a slight boost, with Thailand getting a draw with Iraq, Vietnam beating UAE and unfancied Oman drawing with pre-tournament favourites Australia.

Tonight is when we shall see whether Malaysia Boleh or not.

2007-06-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Taken from The Star
Disappointing Malaysia booed off the pitch

By ERIC SAMUEL
PETALING JAYA: The national football team lost 0-2 to Jamaica in a lethargic display that saw them booed off the pitch barely 10 days before the Asian Cup Finals.

The game at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Thursday night was their final test match., The Jamaicans, on a team re-building process under former Chinese World Cup coach Bora Milutinuvic, began their tour of Asia losing to Indonesia (1-2) and Vietnam (0-3), but managed to get their act together against an erratic Malaysian side.

The disorganised Malaysians were booed off by 3, 000-odd fans after the final whistle, leaving a big question mark over their overall preparations before their opening game against China on July 10. National coach Norizan Bakar, however, put up a brave front at the post-match conference and claimed they were headed in the right direction. He said they would have time to work on their weaknesses before the Asian Cup.

TONIGHT! MALAYSIA v JAMAICA

2007-06-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

Come one, come all. This is your chance to see the Malaysian National Football Team play in its final friendly before the Asian Cup. Tonight, Malaysia will host Jamaica at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil. Kick-off is at 8.45pm. Tickets are priced at RM 5 for all seats.

For everyone's info, prior to this game, the Pasukan Kebangsaan have been playing their matches at Stadium MBPJ and the Shah Alam Stadium. The National Stadium in Bukit Jalil have been closed to protect the ever fragile turf in preparation for the Asian Cup Tournament. For this game, the management of the stadium have agreed to have the friendly there which is a positive step because it means the host will be able to adjust and adapt to the conditions of the field before the tournament begins proper.

Our opponent tonight is Jamaica, otherwise known as the Reggae Boyz. The team is struggling since the 1998 World Cup and is going through a rebuilding phase under experienced coach Bora Milutinovic. They haven't had a good tour of South-East Asia so far - losing 1-2 to Indonesia and 0 -3 to Vietnam despite being ranked higher in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Ranking than the two hosts. This is a relatively young side, (the average age of the squad is 21) and none of their British based players are in the touring party.

This a chance to see how well Malaysia can play against another higher ranking team and judging from the visitor's performance in against their previous opponents, a win is possible for Malaysia.

Probable Malaysian Team Line-up

Akmal is definitely out of the team and there's no update that we can find out about Hardi's recovery from his injury (the main reason why he missed out the last friendly against UAE apparently). According to some reports, Hardi might even start on the left of the midfield.

It is very likely that Azizon Kadir will start in goal protected by the captain, Khaironnisam Sahabuddin Hussain and a choice of Aidil Zafuan Razak or Nazrulerwan Makmor partnering him in the middle. Completing the defence will be Fauzie Nan and Rosdi Talib.

If Norizan goes with a 4-2-3-1 formation, the same midfield than ran the engine room the last time out will return, the combination of Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and Shukor Adan in the middle while Hardi and Eddie Helmy will work on the wings.

What would be interesting is to see who will support Hairuddin Omar upfront. Both the Malay Mail and Utusan Malaysia are reporting that a surprise starter would be last season FAM Young Player of the Year, Nor Farhan Muhammad.

The 23 year old player from Terengganu came on as a substitute in the last two matches for Malaysia and was seen by observers playing in the same side as other first choice players during the training session in Shah Alam.

See you guys tonight!

Great Last Words Indeed

2007-06-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

BorakBola quote what Rizal Hashim of The Malay Mail wrote in his column on Tuesday, 26 June, as to what FAM President Sultan Ahmad Shah said with regards to the fiasco involving national players (especially Akmal) being released to their respective state teams for the second-leg of the FA Cup semifinals:

The last word, however, belongs to FAM president, Sultan Ahmad Shah.

“If you ask me, the player should not have played in that match,” said Sultan Ahmad

Ampun Tuanku. Didn't your subordinates in FAM asked you? We trust your judgement so please, patik mohon the next time Tuanku, please tell these people how you feel. Because obviously the rest do not have or share your intelligence and all of this could've been avoided.

Grrrrrrr....

Ada Apa Dengan Nama?

2007-06-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

For a while BorakBola have been thinking of a good name to give FAM but En Rizal has beaten us to it with a good one, Foolish Apathetic Maladroit. Nice. Unfortunately, we don't even think half of the people at FAM know what it means. ("sapa kata saya robot melayu malas?")

If we are a paranoid conspiracy theorist, we'd be thinking to ourselves, "are our opponents paying the FAM?". It seems that we don't need to play them at all because right before the tournament starts we can count on our own national association to destroy what little chance we have. How fair is that playing against 11 players AND your own national set-up?

And fancy this, our own countrymen tackled our top striker? By the way En Helmi Eliza Elias, we hope you visited Akmal and tell him you were sorry. Just kidding. Not.

Akmal's OK!

2007-06-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the good news is in. Akmal did not suffer any serious injury and should be okay for the Asian Cup. Apparently Akmal's injury was a minor one ("a soft tissue injury"). Naturally Akmal must go for rehab training for around 10 days. Which means that Akmal will have to sit out the friendly against Jamaica tomorrow evening (28 June). X-rays showed no broken bones and the MRI confirmed that the injury is not as severe as everyone initially thought it was. God willing, this means if his rehab goes well, Akmal can be ready for our first game against China in the Asian Cup.

For that game, Cikgu Jan will have to look at the other central strikers in the team; Indra Putra, Hairuddin Omar and Safee Sali. Since the team was assembled for the Asian Cup, Safee Sali has not played before and Indra was left out in the recent game against UAE. Hairuddin scored in the game versus Cambodia but faded in and out when we played UAE. We wouldn't want to be Cikgu Jan right now. We think Indra will be given another run partnering Hairuddin upfront tomorrow. Oh, there's also Fadzli Shaari.

Meanwhile, the blame (and naturally, the denials) game has begun. Read Rizal Hashim's article in The Malay Mail HERE and HERE

So Selangor now says it was not their decision and they didn't ask for the players. At the same time, FAM vice-president and competitions committee chairman Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar said it was not his commitee's decision, but the 'council's'. If only we can pass the ball around on the field as good as we pass the buck around here.

This is what YB said, “It was agreed by the FAM Council early last year that players would be made available to the State teams or clubs should their services be required. This is clearly stipulated in the regulations,”

Okay, but wait, yesterday you also said, "Preparations for the Asian Cup takes precedence" (read my posting before this one below). Yo, which one is which? It would be more manly for FAM to just say, "yeah, we kinda screwed up, our mistake. But we are sorry and we will try to not do it again,". That way we as fans would've respected you and give you that other cookie of a chance. But man, being Malaysians we are too damn generous. Here, have another cookie, and stop being happy about the RM 12 million and start doing your jobs!

No! Cannot! Eh, okay. One time only. This time last. Next time cannot.

2007-06-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Eh? 'Kesedaran' on our part have we? Or was it from the greatest 'lesson' learned? (See "Akmal?") Too late, sir. If you'd stuck to your guns earlier you wouldn't have to repeat this oh-so familiar statement again.

Perlis, Kedah Have To Do FA Cup Battle Without National Players
SHAH ALAM, June 25 (Bernama) -- Perlis and Kedah will have to do FA Cup final battle on June 30 at the Batu Kawan Stadium in Prai without their national players.

The FA Malaysia (FAM) today decided that players called up for national duty for the upcoming Asian Cup will not be released for other competitions.

"Preparations for the Asian Cup takes precedence," FAM vice president Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainudin Raja Omar told a press conference here today. Raja Ahmad Zainuddin is also the chairman of the FAM's Competitions Committee.

Following the decision, Kedah will not have the services of three of their key players while Perlis two
Taken from The Star

Wonder if it would different if Selangor would've qualified. Note there was no remorse shown on what happened to Akmal. Of course lah. Never wrong what?

Akmal? Part 3

2007-06-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

To Akmal,

Get well soon mate.

Men In Black

2007-06-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, AFC has released the list of referees and assistant referees (or linesmen, to people from my generation, ehem). Sixteen referees will officiate in the competition with the help of twenty-four assistant referees. Out of these, one referee and two assistant referees are from CAF (Confederation Africaine De Football).

Looking at the list of referees, there is NONE from Malaysia. There's one from Singapore (Shamsul Maidin - who also officiated in Germany 2006) and one from Thailand. Then again, there's none from Indonesia as well (or Wasit, as they call it there).

Aiyo. AFC. You are trying to say my country's refs not good enough ah? You want to stay long at Bukit Jalil or not? There are at least SIX referees from the FIFA list from Malaysia, not even one managed to get in the list? According to AFC Director of Referees Yoshimi Ogawa, "All the referees who have been selected have proved their refereeing skills in the past and under intense pressure. Moreover, they need to clear a fitness test for final confirmation to officiate in the competition." We surely hope our referees were just too busy for it.

On a positive note, Malaysian FIFA-recognised Assistant Referee, Mohd Sabri Mat Daud is selected as part of the Assistant Referee list. He has been involved in international matches since 2006. One of his most recent AFC outing was in Sydney in the AFC Champions League match between Sydney FC and Urawa Reds last March.

So How Does Our Second Quarter Performance Looks Like?

2007-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

We'll give you 15 seconds to guess what company is this performance graph associated with?

Hehehe. Eleh, you guys know because you have been following this blog. (Thank you very much if you have, by the way!)

Well, anyway, our point is that imagine if this is some big corporate company or organisation' sales achievement or revenue performance or market standing. Imagine if this was your company and you are presenting this graph to your boss. We think, in the real world, where accountability is well.. accounted for - this company would've been in the red, go banckrupt, folded, gulung tikar or the shareholders and the board would've fire someone's ass and wipe out a the whole department responsible for such a performance. Someone would then call for general auditing and maybe the ACA would move in.

But no surprises here. This is the ranking of the Malaysian National Football Team. This is how we have been since 1993. If we were talking about real business, about losses and earnings, about money, we'd be talking about some serious excrement here.

But hey, this is Malaysia. No one in FAM has seriously have their position threatened. Some have even been promoted from where they were since 1993. Promotion while your organisations performance is like this! The National Team has been disbanded before. Players have been blamed. Coaches have been replaced. And yet FAM is still the same.

And the best thing, you get another RM 12 million in funding to basically repeat the same performance that you have been 'achieveing for the last 15 years. A bonus! If this was a real company, this is really a generous one. How much have we spent in 'developing' football in the country?

What would YOU do if you were a shareholder of this company?

Disclaimer

2007-06-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

We want to state here once and for all that whenever we are criticising the FAM, we are NOT, we repeat, NOT criticising the players. If we want to criticise the players, we'll do it and say the names here there and then. So if you are a member of the Pasukan Kebangsaan reading this, don't feel offended when we blast the FAM.

If BorakBola, however, blasting you because of your PERFORMANCE, know that:
a) Its nothing personal
b) It's because as fans, we care. And as long as we care, we will tell how we honestly feel. It's when we stop caring is when you should worry.

And take our opinions with an open heart, open head and use it positively. So that you can become a better player, make us proud, make the Pasukan Kebangsaan stronger and make you proud. We don't get paid being your fans. But we will always be here supporting you. That is what being a fan is all about (trust us, this year our favourite team FC Barcelona and Selangor FC are not doing too well - but you'll never walk alone!)

Don't give up. Try your best and we will always put our hopes on you.

Malaysia Boleh!!!

Update on Akmal

2007-06-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the brilliant minds at FAM have done it again. Because of their indecisions, leniency, poor planning and overall generally incompetency, Malaysia has lost Akmal Rizal, one of our best strikers in the country, to injury. He sustained this during a collision with the Kedah goalkeeper in Selangor's second-leg FA Cup match. I wonder if we are the only footballing nation in the world that would lose our top player, because our nation's football governing body decides to release the player, who was in centralised training, to his club barely 2 weeks before the biggest competition in the continent!

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Oh wait, allow me to rephrase that, not stupid...but NOT clever.

*sigh*

Of course, this is football. Akmal could've been injured during training. He could've been injured walking up the stairs to his room. Only God knows. Of course, there was no way that FAM could have anticipated this. But this was preventable. It was a risky feat. It could've been avoided. Who's bigger, club or country? FAM or State FAs? Even if the State FAs complaint, why can't FAM draw the line? Why is FAM so worried to be seen as 'the good guy' and appeasing everyone except the fans? As usual, will FAM admit fault? I doubt it very much. (and I'll tell you why in another post)

Anyway, here's the update on Akmal. We at Borakbola hope and pray that his injury is not too serious and that after this period of rest he will be able to rejoin the national team. We need you Akmal to tear holes in the oppositions' nets man!

Akmal blow for Malaysia
THE National team suffered a massive blow to their Asian Cup hopes when striker Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli suffered a severe injury while playing for Selangor in their FA Cup semi-final second leg match against Kedah at the Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday.

The match ended 1-1 on the night for Kedah to advance to Saturday’s final with Perlis on a 3-1 aggregate. Perlis, who beat Johor Pasir Gudang 1-0 on Saturday for a 2-2 aggregate, advance on the away goals rule.

Akmal, who suffered the injury in a clash with Kedah keeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias, was taken to the Kelana Jaya Medical Centre by FA of Selangor officials after the match.

When met at the dressing room, Akmal, whose leg was strapped with ice while waiting for the ambulance, said: "It’s very painful, it was a very hard knock. The (Kedah) keeper raised his leg despite catching the ball.

"I think it (the injury) will take at least four to five days to heal." Akmal is scheduled to undergo a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan today.

"I hope that with treatment I will be able to continue to play for the national team (in the Asian Cup)," added Akmal.

But for sure, the Selangor striker will have to miss the third warm up match against Jamaica at the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Thursday.

"I am truly sad and disappointed that Akmal has injured himself. We will wait for the results of the scan to see how bad it is," said Selangor coach Dollah Salleh.

Kedah coach Azraai Khor said that this is a risk a player and the national coach takes when it comes to football.

"I can’t say much. All I can say that it’s football and that’s the risk we take.

"Kedah had not requested for (national) players to be released. It was FAM’s decision," said Azraai.

FAM vice-president, Datuk Raja Ahmad Raja Zainuddin, had granted permission for some of the National players who are in training for the Asian Cup, to be released to play for their respective States in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final.

National coach Norizan Bakar found it hard to hide his disappointment.

"It’s always a big risk to allow national players to play for their clubs or States when they are on national assignment.

"Now we to have to wait and see how Akmal responds to treatment," said Norizan yesterday.

This disappointing episode, one hopes, will be a lesson to the FAM and its officials not to release national players for any other assignment when preparing to represent the country in a major tournament — in this case the Asian Cup.

More Results from Around The Region

2007-06-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Threes matches were played yesterday:

Saudi Arabia defeated UAE 2-0 in a match played in Singapore, while in Indonesia, the host lost 0-1 to Oman. Oman hit the woodwork once, had a goal disallowed while Bambang missed a penalty for the Indons. I have not found the results for Vietnam v Jamaica.

Meanwhile, it's less than 2 weeks away to the Asian Cup tournament (about 12 more days to be exact). Have you bought your tickets?

If you haven't, do go and check out the nearest TM Point, Wisma FAM and your state FAs. You can also purchase it online. Check out www.the-afc.com or www.afcasiancup.com

Aku Janji (Or Do I, Really?)

2007-06-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

Those of you who can't read Bahasa Malaysia, we won't really apologise for including articles from the local daily, Utusan Malaysia. Maybe we'll do more translating once we enrol in the Pusat Terjemahan Negara. But really, it's because when it comes to matters of national football, it's only Utusan Malaysia that's really putting an effort and they are usually the first to report. As much as we don't really care to read the other section of Utusan, try and visit their website and look out for some interesting articles.

BorakBola thinks Malay Mail does some good write-ups and articles too. But NST and The Star? You guys really have to pull up your socks lah and try and contribute. Don't throw news about the Pasukan Kebangsaan 2 or 3 page in a small corner of the sports section next to the 4D results. So until we get some nice and juicy reports from our local English dailies, you readers out there would have to put up with this, or write to NST and The Star to complaint, or take up Bahasa. Ha Ha.

Anyway, here's what FAM had to say, all gushed up and touched after received the money from the government. Where have we heard this all before eh?

FAM janji guna RM12.3 juta pulihkan imej
Oleh NORZIE MOHD. KHASBI

KUALA LUMPUR – Terharu dengan peruntukan besar yang diberikan oleh Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN), Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) berjanji akan meningkatkan tahap bola sepak negara dari segala aspek. Selain bakal melaksanakan program pembangunan yang lebih teratur, badan bola sepak kebangsaan itu juga memandang serius usaha memperbaiki ranking dunia.

Semalam FAM menjadi persatuan sukan pertama menerima bantuan MSN tahun ini dengan peruntukan RM12.317 juta - jumlah tertinggi pernah diterima dalam sejarah. Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said berkata, bantuan tersebut hanya fasa pertama iaitu bagi melaksanakan program 2007, bermakna ada tambahan peruntukan bakal dinikmati oleh FAM.

Mengapa bola sepak mendapat keistimewaan dipilih menerima peruntukan, alasan Azalina cukup mudah kerana ia sukan paling popular di negara ini dan antara lapan sukan teras. Malah beliau yakin FAM mempunyai banyak program dalam perancangan dan ia akan dapat dilaksanakan dengan lebih efektif dengan adanya bantuan dari kerajaan.

“Bola sepak adalah sukan paling popular di negara kita, dan apabila perjanjian ditandatangani secara tidak langsung FAM dan MSN dapat bekerjasama dalam keadaan lebih erat. “Dengan adanya perjanjian, kita berharap semua persatuan akan menepati apa yang dijanjikan. FAM bukan satu-satunya persatuan yang menerima peruntukan, ia akan disusuli oleh persatuan lain,’’ kata Azalina selepas majlis memeterai Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) di Bukit Jalil, semalam.

MSN diwakili Ketua Pengarahnya, Datuk Zolkples Embong manakala FAM diwakili Setiausaha Agung FAM, Datuk Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad. Sementara itu, Dr. Ibrahim Saad memberi jaminan bahawa peruntukan besar tersebut akan diguna sepenuhnya bagi meningkatkan mutu bola sepak negara.

Dalam ranking terbaru Persekutuan Bola Sepak Antarabangsa (FIFA), Malaysia berada pada kedudukan kelima di kalangan negara Asia Tenggara iaitu di tangga ke-149. Thailand menerajui kedudukan negara Asia Tenggara dengan berada di tangga ke-122, diikuti Singapura (131), Vietnam (142) dan Indonesia (143).

“Peruntukan ini membuatkan saya rasa amat terharu. FAM tidak pernah menerima bantuan sebanyak ini,’’ kata Dr. Ibrahim. Menurut Dr. Ibrahim lagi, peruntukan sebanyak RM12.317 juta itu akan diagih kepada tujuh program utama.

Sebanyak RM6.266 juta akan digunakan untuk pembangunan sukan teras, RM521,500 pula bagi program pelapis, iaitu skuad bawah 20 tahun, yang akan bertanding pada kejohanan Piala Juara-Juara Belia (CYC). Akademi bola sepak negeri-negeri yang melahirkan ramai pemain bola sepak terbaik menerima peruntukan sebanyak RM3 juta.

Program elit pula dibahagikan kepada persiapan menghadapi Piala Asia - RM300,000 dan persiapan Sukan SEA, RM600,000. Pembangunan bola sepak wanita juga tidak diketepikan FAM apabila sebanyak RM280,000 diperuntukan kepada mereka.

Program latihan prestasi tinggi Malaysia di Brickedonbury, England juga berada dalam bajet FAM dengan RM750,000 diperuntukan.
Taken from Utusan Malaysia

Mo' Money Mo' Money Part 2

2007-06-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

It seems that the issue of FAM recently receiving further funding from the National Sports Council or MSN have not gone unnoticed. In the last few days we have came across many interesting letters from fans to the media and articles by sportswriter as well. Below we are pasting the responses received taken from various medias:

A letter from a reader, published in Utusan Malaysia, 21 June

FAM terus dimanjakan
MINGGU lepas Kementerian Belia dan Sukan serta Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) menjelaskan akan memperkenalkan sistem rating ataupun merit dalam memberi peruntukan kepada persatuan sukan. Persatuan sukan paling berjaya akan menerima peruntukan terbanyak, manakala persatuan sukan yang gagal menyerlah kemungkinan besar tidak akan menerima sebarang peruntukan.

Saya amat menyokong sistem tersebut kerana sebelum ini peruntukan diberi kepada semua persatuan sukan tetapi ada beberapa persatuan sukan yang gagal menyerlah. Terdapat desas-desus mengatakan persatuan sukan tersebut menggunakan sebahagian peruntukan untuk kepentingan peribadi seperti melancong dan untuk kemewahan.

Dan kelmarin diumumkan pula Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) akan menerima peruntukan RM12.3 juta iaitu yang tertinggi dalam sejarah. Ini hanyalah fasa pertama untuk tahun ini dan mereka bakal terima lebih lagi. Tetapi semua orang tahu FAM adalah antara persatuan sukan yang gagal menyerlah malah semakin buruk prestasi.

Kalau diikutkan sistem rating sepatutnya FAM dikurangkan peruntukan dan bukannya ditambah, seolah-olah FAM yang paling berjaya. Alasan MSN bola sepak merupakan sukan paling popular tidak boleh dijadikan ukuran. Fikirkanlah sudah hampir 20 tahun FAM mendapat peruntukan besar daripada MSN tetapi semakin malap bola sepak negara.

Ini sudah jelas menunjukkan FAM gagal menggunakan peruntukan besar sejak berbelas tahun untuk meningkatkan mutu bola sepak negara. Penonton yang datang ke stadium juga semakin berkurangan dan jelas sukan bola sepak semakin tidak popular di Malaysia. Peruntukan besar tersebut lebih berfaedah digunakan untuk membasmi kemiskinan dalam negara ataupun untuk pembangunan rakyat dan bukannya terus memperjudikan kepada FAM yang telah terbukti satu pelaburan merugikan negara.
– PEMERHATI BOLA SEPAK

Somebody then wrote in to reply to Pemerhati's Bola Sepak's letter:

A letter from a reader, published in Utusan Malaysia, 22 June

Beri peluang FAM pulih imej bola sepak negara
SAYA tidak bersetuju dengan pandangan pemerhati bola sepak negara seperti yang disiarkan dalam ruangan Forum, Utusan Malaysia semalam.

Kenapa kerajaan dibidas apabila memberi bantuan untuk menaikkan taraf dan populariti bola sepak negara? Soal menyalurkan bajet untuk membanteras kemiskinan perlu diasingkan daripada usaha penyelesaian masalah bola sepak negara kerana ia perlu dilihat sebagai dua perkara berbeza. Bukankah ada kementerian yang ditugaskan untuk melihat permasalahan itu dan sejumlah besar telah pun dibelanjakan bagi penyelesaiannya? Jangan dipersoalkan usaha kerajaan untuk mengembalikan kemegahan bola sepak negara.

Bolehkan kita mempersoalkan perbelanjaan untuk menghantar astronaut negara ke angkasa lepas dengan usaha mengawal dan membasmi nyamuk? Itu ternyata dua perkara berbeza dan saya percaya kerajaan bijak berbelanja dalam apa jua isu berkepentingan negara. Jelas seperti yang dikatakan bahawa penonton semakin berkurang berkunjung ke stadium tetapi ini bukan merupakan indikator untuk mengukur populariti bola sepak sebagai sukan nombor satu rakyat Malaysia.

Minat terhadap bola sepak tidak pernah luntur sebaliknya terus meningkat walaupun kecenderungannya kepada bola sepak luar negara. Kesedaran di atas fakta inilah yang mendorong kerajaan untuk terus menyalurkan bantuan bagi membantu Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) untuk memajukan sukan ini agar ia dapat memaut kembali hati peminat bola sepak tanah air yang dahagakan kegemilangan bola sepak tempatan. Sebagai peminat atau pemerhati bola sepak kita perlulah mempunyai sikap positif di atas perkembangan ini. Kepercayaan yang diberikan menunjukkan bahawa kerajaan tampak yakin dengan hala tuju dan kepimpinan FAM yang ada sekarang.

Jumlah bantuan kewangan yang besar ini mampu memberi impak ke atas pembangunan bola sepak tanah air selepas kehilangan tajaan-tajaan besar kerana dasar yang perlu dipatuhi oleh FAM. Umpama ‘orang mengantuk disorongkan bantal’ FAM akan mampu untuk melaksanakan agenda besar bagi meningkatkan mutu bola sepak negara dan sekali gus menarik minat penonton untuk ke stadium. Pemulihan bola sepak negara perlukan sokongan. Semangat ini perlu ada bagi semua yang mahu melihat kemajuan bola sepak negara. Sebagai permulaan, saya menyeru agar penonton dapat bersama-sama pasukan kebangsaan dan menunjukkan sokongan padu setiap kali mereka beraksi agar semangat mereka dapat dipulihkan.

Usaha secara kolektif persatuan, individu dan semua yang terlibat pasti membuahkan hasil. Perkara terakhir yang kita perlukan adalah bidasan negatif seperti yang disuarakan daripada ‘pemerhati bola sepak’.
– BASTIEN MFR,

Wisely, journalists went and asked our Minister about the comments on the streets regarding the funding:

Taken from Utusan Malaysia, 22 June

Beri peluang FAM baiki keadaan
KOTA BHARU – Kementerian Belia dan Sukan berharap peminat-peminat tempatan memberi peluang kepada Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) untuk meningkatkan mutu sukan nombor satu negara itu.

Menterinya, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said berkata, FAM menghadapi pelbagai masalah seperti sumber kewangan yang terhad untuk membangunkan bola sepak tanah air.

Katanya, dengan bantuan kewangan yang diberikan Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN), FAM boleh mengatur lebih banyak program bagi memastikan sukan paling popular negara ini meningkat.

‘‘Macam mana kalau anak awak hisap dadah, adakah awak nak tinggalkan dia begitu sahaja, awak perlu membantunya untuk pulih.

“Tugas kerajaan adalah untuk membangunkan sukan dalam negara dan saya rasa FAM akan lebih baik selepas ini.

‘‘FAM telah hilang sumber kewangan apabila kerajaan tidak membenarkan syarikat rokok menaja aktiviti sukan negara ini, untuk dapatkan tajaan sekarang amat susah walaupun kerajaan memberikan potongan cukai sebanyak tujuh peratus,” katanya kepada para pemberita selepas melancarkan Karnival Sukan Warga Pendidik Parlimen Kota Bharu di sini, semalam.

Beliau diminta mengulas mengenai surat pembaca yang disiarkan Utusan Malaysia kelmarin yang menyatakan FAM terus dimanjakan dengan pemberian peruntukan sebanyak RM12 juta oleh MSN walaupun tidak menunjukkan prestasi yang memberangsangkan.

Menurut Azalina, alasan MSN bola sepak merupakan sukan paling popular tidak boleh dijadikan ukuran kerana sudah hampir 20 tahun FAM mendapat peruntukan besar daripada MSN tetapi semakin malap bola sepak negara.

Ini, katanya, sudah jelas menunjukkan FAM gagal menggunakan peruntukan besar sejak berbelas tahun untuk meningkatkan mutu bola sepak negara.

Azalina berkata, peruntukan tersebut tidak disalurkan serentak kepada FAM tetapi ia akan diberikan secara berperingkat selepas mereka membuat program.

‘‘Beza sekarang adalah duit itu kita pegang dan kedua kita wujudkan perjanjian ada beberapa peraturan yang diperlu dipatuhi.

‘‘Kita tidak mahu ia membazir begitu sahaja, kita akan memantau penggunaan peruntukan ini bagi memastikan ia benar-benar digunakan untuk pembangunan bola sepak tanah air,” katanya.

Mo' Money Mo' Money

2007-06-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

Reporters from The Star and NST had this to say about the money:

Read about it HERE from NST and HERE from The Star.

Interview with Cikgu Jan

2007-06-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Man with the Plan

Here we reproduce in verbatim, the translation from Bahasa Malaysia, the interview between Abdul Hafiz Ahmad (AA) from Mingguan Malaysian and the Malaysian National Football coach, Norizan Bakar (NB). Taken from Mingguan Malaysia:

AA: Why is Indra Putra Mahyuddin still called up even though he's only recently returning to real action and was shown to be ineffective even though against a team such as Cambodia?

NB: Each player in the Asian Cup squad are the best in Malaysia. I have confidence in them. I selected them after consulting with others, and judged them from their performances in the M League, in the friendlies we had in Sri Lanka and Australia earlier this year and in the AFF and Merdeka tournaments.

AA: The first game will be a huge challenge - facing the 2004 Asian Cup runners-up, China. What is the team's target and what do you hope the team will achieve?

NB: The last time we played against them was in 2004 in Penang (World Cup Qualifiers) and we only loss narrowly 0-1, so it shows our playing level with the opponent is not much different.

AA: The last time we qualified by merit was in 1980 in Kuwait. Would it be a great achievement and will it be your target to obtain more or less, the same result (only one point away from the semis)?

NB: I don't know because I was not involved with the national team at that time but to me, what is in the past let it be in the past (as history). This Asian Cup however is a big chance that we must seize because we have already qualified as one of the hosts. I consider this a mini World Cup. We will not look back again (after this).

AA: Malaysia lost 1 - 3 to UAE in the recent friendly last Thursday even though the visitors were not playing at their best. Your comment?

NB: We played against another team that will compete in the same Asian Cup tournament and I feel that this is the quality that we will face and it was good for us to experience it prior to the real thing. What was positive is that we learned to not lose focus and concentration even for a second or we will pay for it (like letting in 3 easy goals)

AA: Are you still experimenting with the squad or has the best first eleven been chosen after defeating Cambodia?

NB: We will try our best to find the combination we want but without any major changes. We getting there (building the team). There is still time before meeting Jamaica this (Thursday). The FA Cup is still not finished (with 12 national players playing for their respective states). Anything can happen in training after this. But whoever is representing the team, (I believe) they are the best for the match and based on any current conditions.

Big Business - UPDATE

2007-06-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

There have been some changes of which team wears what:

Here's quick look of the 2007 Asian Cup kitmakers line-up:

ADIDAS
China
UAE
Japan

NIKE
Korea Republic
Australia
Malaysia
Indonesia
Thailand

PUMA
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Bahrain
Uzbekistan

UMBRO
Iraq

LOTTO
Oman

OTHERS
Qatar - Unknown
Vietnam - Unknown - Kronos?

The biggest surprise is Thailand going to Nike over FBT. Must be some deal for the team to forgo a long relationship with their locally made FBT kit.

Big Business

2007-06-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

It goes without saying (but I'll say it here anyway), that it's big business in football, especially in terms of advertising and sponsorship. Recently we've read about FIFA having to pay Mastercard millions of dollars for misleading the card company into being the official credit card for the upcoming World Cups - with Visa being the clear winner by getting the rights instead. An observer once remarked in a BBC Hard Talk session a few months ago that one of the main reason why football is not so successful in America (or Soccer, as the bloody Yanks call it) is due to limited advertising time and opportunities it has - compared to NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA where there are 4 quarters, 9 innings, 3 periods and many time-outs and breaks for advertisers to capitalise - as opposed to the game of two 45 halves that football has.

The 2007 AFC Asian Cup itself has a total 9 Official Sponsors, and 6 Official Partners (less money these six companies) not including a variety of other sponsors and advertisers when we go to the national teams and the players. Malaysia already have Samsung and Proton on board, not forgetting Nike of course.

Nike, as I've mentioned before, is going big here. For example, for the first time in any Asian football competitions, Nike has launched the Nike Mercurial Veloci AC, a ball made specifically for the competition. According to the official press release, the ball features four predominantly blue (with gold accents) graduated stripes with each host city's name inscribed, the AFC Asian Cup logo comprised of red (Vietnam), green (Indonesia), blue (Thailand) and yellow (Malaysia) color designations in the shape of a football, and a Nike swoosh.

But what has always interest me (and I know a few of your hardcore fans out there too) is the subtle (okay, perhaps not so subtle) 'war' between the kitmakers - Adidas, Puma and Nike. Within the spirit of the competition between the teams, there is also the underlying battle between the sponsors. In the recent World Cup the German sportmaker Puma, for a long time was outshined by Nike and Adidas, staged the best guerilla attack, fitting out nearly half the teams in the tournament (dominating nearly all the African and South American teams) in similar designed Puma kits, and having the champion Italy shooting up the Puma azzuri shirts sales worldwide.

Last year, it was Nike dominating the UEFA Champions League final between FC Barcelona and Arsenal. This year, it was an all Adidas final between AC Milan and Liverpool. Nike took the reigns in England while Adidas made a comeback in Spain. In the Gold Cup Final tomorrow it will be an Adidas (Mexico - prior to this wearing the swoosh) v Nike (USA) final.

Here's quick look of the 2007 Asian Cup kitmakers line-up:

ADIDAS
China
UAE
Japan
Vietnam
Qatar
Uzbekistan

NIKE
Korea Republic
Australia
Malaysia
Indonesia

PUMA
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Bahrain (wore Diadora before but could be Puma for this tournament)

FBT
Thailand

OTHERS
Iraq (Jack Jones or Diadora?) - I need to confirm this. Iraqi footie fans out there?
Oman (Lotto) - Also needs confirmation

Whoever wins the tournament, the kitmaker will win too.

Whatever it is, hats off to the Thais who have always been loyal to their own local brand, FBT (which, I only found out, stands for FootBall Thailand - but I know they also make those killer Tomoi/Muay Thai shorts).

NB: Just a note that FBT has even secured the rights to kit out the whole of Malaysia SEA Games contigent for the upcoming SEA Games in Korat, Thailand, later this year.

Killer Tomoi Pants (NOT what the Thai football team wears at the Asian Cup)

Members of the Thai under 15 team after a 'friendly' with a visiting Farang team

Results From Other Asian Cup Teams

2007-06-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

These are the recent results (based on all the friendlies and matches from early June) for the other teams participating in the upcoming Asian Cup categorised by the groups they will be in:

GROUP A
Australia
Australia 1 - 2 Uruguay (2 June)

Thailand
Thailand 1 - 3 Netherlands (6 June)
Borussia Fulda (Germany) 1 - 2 Thailand (20 June)

Iraq
Jordan 1 - 1 Iraq (8 June)
Jordan 0 - 0 Iraq (12 June)
Iran Team B 0 - 0 Iraq (16 June)
Iraq 1 - 0 Palestine (18 June)
Syria 0 - 3 Iraq (22 June)

Oman
No matches since January

GROUP B
Japan
Japan 2 - 0 Montenegro (1 June)
Japan 0 - 0 Colombia (5 June)

Vietnam
No matches since January

Qatar
Kufstein Austria 1 - 1 Qatar (14 June)
Ghana 0 - 3 Qatar (19 June)

UAE
Malaysia 1 - 3 UAE (21 June)

GROUP C
China
USA 4 - 1 China (2 June)
Real Salt Lake 1 - 0 China (7 June)
Colorado Rapids 1 - 2 China (10 June)

Iran
Mexico 4 - 0 Iran (2 June)
Iran Team B 0 - 0 Iraq (16 June)
Iran 2 - 0 Palestine (20 June)
Jordan 0 - 2 Iran (22 June)

MALAYSIA
Malaysia 6 - 0 Cambodia (18 June)
Malaysia 1 - 3 UAE (21 June)

Uzbekistan
No matches since March

GROUP D
Bahrain
No matches since January

Indonesia
Indonesia 3 - 0 Hong Kong (1 June)
Indonesia 0 - 1 Singapore U23 (3 June)
Indonesia 2 - 1 Jamaica (21 June)

Korea Republic
Korea 0 - 2 Netherlands (2 June)

Saudi Arabia
Kosovo 1 - 0 Saudi Arabia (15 June)
NK Zagreb Croatia 2 - 4 Saudi Arabia (16 June)

Results & Info collated from www.the-afc.com and www.fifa.com

Must Be An Asian Thing

2007-06-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Don't say BorakBola is unfair. It seems that FAM can pull it's Get Out Of Jail Card for their local fixtures. Its mentioned before that the coach of Japan, Osim-san have also been complaining about JFA's cleverness in arranging their own domestic league fixtures - the J League. Well apparently it is the same with the K-League. Nice. So we are emulating these Asian giants after all!

Let's see what's the news with relations to these two countries:

Coach Verbeek and K-League reach training camp compromise
SEOUL: South Korea’s warring soccer factions have called a truce over an Asian Cup training camp that clashed with domestic fixtures. National coach Pim Verbeek and the K-League jousted after the Dutchman summoned his squad to the southern resort island of Jeju this weekend to prepare for next month’s Asian Cup Finals.

Both sides refused to compromise as the row escalated during the week, but the K-League have backed down and agreed to reschedule today’s fixtures to Oct 14. “Our players will comply ... in consideration of the national team’s need to prepare for the Asian Cup and with the hope it will make a sweeping victory,” the K-League said in a statement yesterday.

Fans would be deprived of high-quality games if the fixtures went ahead without the participation of the national team players, the statement added. With South Korea’s preparations for the tournament in tatters due to injuries to four key players, it was always unlikely Verbeek would bow to the K-League’s demands for the camp to start a day later.

The Dutchman has been highly critical of the K-League for the number of games players have had to cope with in recent months. However, Verbeek went some way to mending fences by cancelling a national team friendly scheduled for Oct 13, the day before the rescheduled K-League fixtures.

South Korea have been grouped with Indonesia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for the July 7-29 tournament.
Taken from Reuters

Japan’s Asian Cup preparations a joke, says coach Osim
TOKYO: Japan’s preparations for the defence of their Asian Cup title were labelled a joke by coach Ivica Osim on Thursday.

The Bosnian, upset that most of his players have club commitments before Japan’s opener on July 9, blasted the J-League schedule in an attack dripping with sarcasm. “Most of our Asian Cup rivals have been together for around 20 days already,” Osim told reporters. “We’ll be going to Vietnam with next to no preparation and with a squad of tired players. It’s a novel approach.”

The 66-year-old added: “It’s brilliant! As a bonus we can even save the Japan Football Association some money by keeping our training camps so short.” Japan will hold a three-day training camp before flying to Vietnam on July 4 for their opening Group B game against Qatar in Hanoi. The United Arab Emirates and co-hosts Vietnam are also in the same group as the defending champions.
Taken from Reuters

Don't worry Osim-san. We are having the same problem here - but our players won't be tired because we take Tongkat Ali for breakfast

Do You Know How The Asian Cup Looks Like?

2007-06-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here you go. This is what we hope someday some Malaysian players will able to get their hands on it and lift it high in the sky. In meantime before then, 16 teams will kick each others' asses in four countries in South East Asia for a chance to lay their lips on this inanimate object.

The Asian Cup - Can be made at the shop in Pertama within 2 weeks

Akmal?

2007-06-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Latest news BorakBola read was that Akmal was involved in a collision on the field with Kedah's goalkeeper in the FA Cup semi-final second leg tonite. He was stretched out of the field in the 44th minute. We pray that it's not a serious injury. Because if it is, it just draws the line beneath what we've been saying about how stupid the top people at FAM are. (Hey, if a Minister in the Parliament can say it again and again, why can we? But let's not politicise this blog shall we?)

We'll say this again. You have the Asian Cup in less than two weeks, and you still have your players playing for the league teams when they should be concentrating in preparation for the tournament. Why? Why? Why?

What's even more annoying is when King Yob our Mr VP of FAM said that by allowing these players playing for their respective teams they will experience the feeling and fitness of 'real matches'. Come on lah! Stop deflecting what is clearly bad organisation on you and your team's part.

Read Abdul Hafiz Ahmad good article in Utusan Malaysia, 23 March 2007 (sorry it's in Bahasa Malaysia):

Wajarkah pemain negara ke Piala FA?
KUALA LUMPUR – Terlalu jauh untuk menyamakan taraf kejurulatihan Norizan Bakar dengan Pim Verbeek dari Korea Selatan tetapi mereka berkongsi satu situasi tersepit yang akhirnya dipisahkan oleh ketegasan badan induk bola sepak negara masing-masing.

Riak wajah Norizan Bakar selepas perlawanan persahabatan dengan Emiriah Arab Bersatu (UAE) kelmarin, cukup menggambarkan betapa jurulatih Malaysia itu dibelenggu dilema antara perlu menjalankan tugas negara atau demi menjaga hati majikannya, Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) dan negeri.

‘‘Tiada komen,” kata Norizan ringkas ketika ditanya sama ada beliau secara sukarela melepaskan 12 anak buahnya semula ke pangkuan Selangor, Kedah, Perlis dan Johor-Pasir Gudang bagi menghadapi separuh akhir Piala FA, hari ini sedangkan Piala Asia cuma berbaki dua minggu.

Mereka ialah Akmal Rizal Rakhli, Fadzli Shaari, Shukor Adan, Safee Sali, Syed Adney Syed Hussein, Amirulhadi Zainal (Selangor), V. Thirumurugan, Ahmad Fauzi Shaari, Khyril Muhymeen Zambri (Kedah), Fauzie Nan, Azi Shahril Azmi (Perlis) dan Hamzani Omar (Johor-Pasir Gudang).

Kelmarin, FAM yang sepatutnya seperti ‘bapa yang tegas’ boleh mengalah kepada tuntutan negeri berkenaan untuk menggunakan semula khidmat tonggak negara termasuk tujuh yang dalam senarai simpanan sedangkan sebelum ini ia melarangnya kerana bimbangkan risiko kecederaan.

Di Seoul menurut laporan agensi asing, Verbeek yang berbangsa Belanda memenangi kemelut perebutan pemain kebangsaannya dengan kelab Liga Korea Selatan malah mendapat sokongan padu Persatuan Bola Sepak Korea (KFA) yang tampak lebih pintar mengenali yang mana kaca dan permata.

Secara berdiplomasi, Norizan cuma mampu berpesan: ‘‘ Harapan saya ialah mereka tidak tercedera biarpun bermain dua perlawanan sebenar dalam tempoh tiga hari (termasuk separuh akhir Piala FA).”

Kelmarin, anak buahnya tewas 1-3 kepada UAE di Petaling Jaya dalam perlawanan persahabatan menjelang pusingan akhir Piala Asia di Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand dan Vietnam, bulan depan dengan gol tunggal dijaringkan oleh Akmal Rizal.

‘‘Dari segi permainan, kita mampu setara dengan lawan malah dalam masa tertentu, kami juga menyerang, mencipta peluang dan dapat menjaringkan gol,” katanya merujuk kepada jaringan sulung antarabangsa Akmal Rizal sejak 2004.

Sementara itu, Naib Presiden FAM, Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar yang melihat dari sudut lain menganggap, pelepasan pemain negara bagi menghadapi Piala FA sekurang-kurangnya meneruskan mereka merasai suasana dan mengekalkan tahap kecergasan dalam perlawanan sebenar.

‘‘Kami lepaskan mereka kerana separuh akhir FA ialah penentuan penting pasukan terbabit. Nanti ada yang merungut dan salahkan FAM pula apabila mereka kalah. Malah kadangkala pemain yang tidak bermain pun, boleh tercedera sebab ia macam nasib,” katanya.

Namun, tegas Raja Ahmad, FAM mungkin tidak mempertimbangkan lagi pelepasan pemain negara bagi perlawanan akhir Piala FA, 30 Jun ini sekiranya ada di antara mereka yang tercedera dalam pertembungan di Stadium Shah Alam dan Stadium Utama Negeri, Kangar itu, malam ini

Know the Pasukan Kebangsaan

2007-06-22T05:06:00.000-07:00

For those outside the country or inside the country but in a hole, this is how the Pasukan Kebangsaan's new kit looks like. Malaysia have always been kitted out in yellow and black as the Home colours, and blue and white as the away colours.

There was a buzz of excitement when Nike, the sport giants that kit out teams such as Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona and national teams such as Brazil and Holland decided to dress up the Pasukan Kebangsaan in a four-year deal. Nike will provide the main attire for all national teams and also contribute to youth development programs. The contract has an option for renewal for another five years. The shirt, which was designed similar to the jersey worn by the Harimau Malaysia of the 1980's was first worn by the senior side in the last ASEAN Football Federation Championship. Previously the Pasukan Kebangsaan was sponsored by Adidas.

The Adidas-kitted Zainal Abidin and Co. Skimpy shorts preferred

Nike has gone aggressive in the region by also sponsoring the Timnas of Indonesia and the Singaporean National Team.

Not surprisingly, the players version was retailed at RM259, the same price as other Nike jerseys. It turned many fans off but that still didn't dampen the sale of the first batch of the jerseys which are now sold out. Nike then released a fans' version at RM 129 and has also recently launched a third version for fans at RM69. Don't worry, you can also find numerous pirated versions (and even for kids) a most places which starts from RM20.

Home Jersey

Away Jersey

And these are how the team looks like:

Bring On Da Reggae Boyz!

2007-06-22T04:49:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Mr Hakim esq, nice job there bro'!

The Jamaican National Football team are on a South East Asian tour. They had their first game yesterday in a friendly against the ''Timnas' of Indonesia where they lost 1-2 to the host. This Sunday (24 June) they will be in Hanoi for a friendly against Vietnam before visiting Kuala Lumpur for a friendly against the Pasukan Kebangsaan. They are ranked #68 in the world.

Things are heating up with a flurry of friendly matches lined up between teams in the region. To see the schedule prepared by www.the-afc.com, click here

MATCH REPORT: Malaysia v UAE (Friendly) 21 June

2007-06-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

Match Report
Malaysia played their second friendly after the Asian Cup squad was selected against UAE in Stadium MBPJ yesterday. It was heartening to see that despite the rain and traffic, the stadium was filled with fans (not completely, of course, but the number was quite good and it was a positive sign that the fans are still hoping and backing up Norizan Bakar's boys. It helped that it was free so those of you who felt the rain was too much to come over, you missed it - it's not often that you can get to see a national team play a friendly against another national team for free. Which means that probably the money which we questioned earlier (RM300,000) given by FAM to the Asian Cup team, was probably used to offset the cost of bringing these teams here, holding these free matches etc etc. If THAT is really the case, then we at BorakBola apologise for questioning which is after all, part of the taxpayers' money.

Anyway, we didn't quite expect the good turnout. We are bad with estimating crowds but it looked pretty good to us. Not Premiership or La Liga good, but good considering it IS the Malaysian team we are talking about here and it was also a Thursday night and when most Klang Valley residents were caught in the jam.

Anyway, back to the game itself. It is obvious that Bruno Metsu's boys weren't in the mood to be as generous as the Cambodians. We are expected that this is a different class of team altogether and it was a good reminder to the Pasukan Kebangsaan that more things need to fixed and done before the Asian Cup tournament begins. The visitors adapted well to the wet surface and despite the fact the Malaysian started quite brightly, it was the visitors who scored early in the ninth minute as a result of bad passing between the Malaysian players.

The remaining first half was uneventful with both teams finding ways to probe each others' defences although the UAE lookied more dangerous with surging runs on their right flank which occassionally troubled the Malaysian defence. What was lacking to the Malaysian game was someone to dictate the midfield and string in the passes and provide service to both Akmal and Hairuddin. It seemed that Malaysia was content to go through the left side with Rosdi Talib and Ivan Yusoff working hard but could not throw the crosses in. It was left to Hairuddin and Akmal to try and breakthough with passes between each other but this was difficult with the UAE defence playing high and with no support. Hardi Jaafar didn't play and we couldn't see him in the subs bench and we wonder what's happened to him. It was clear that the midfield missed the Melaka Telekom playmaker.

Where art thou Hardi?
Perhaps coach Norizan Bakar was experimenting with a defence-minded midfield because he started with Norhafiz Zamani and Shukor Adan in the middle (a strategy when meeting stronger, more offensive teams?) but BorakBola felt that this pairing was neither here nor there because there were on many occassion that UAE strolled through the middle of the park with no cover and backtracking by both players. And this midfield pairing didn't help much with the attack. In fact we were thoroughly disappointed with Shukor's performance - he was not covering anyone, not helping with the defence, watched whenever the UAE attacked and didn't do much with the offence either. It almost seem he had half his mind in the upcoming second leg of the FA Cup between his state team Selangor and Kedah. Hopefully that this is only a one-off thing because Shukor is a good player, usually hardworking, strong in tackling and could muck it in the middle against anyone.

So much so that during the first half, the only chances Malaysia has was a header by Hairuddin from an Ivan cross and a free-kick by Akmal - both of which that sailed wide of the goal.

We must say that pairing of K Nanthakumar and the captain Muhammad Khaironnisam was quite good in the first half. They were calm and composed but lost their concentration a bit in the second half to allow the two other goals (probably down to fatigue). Azizon Kadir in goal looked okay. He wasn't tested much and frankly it was not much he can do with the goals as they were scored from mostly point blank range.

The goals Malaysia conceded in the second half were simply, as a result of bad passes, poor clearance. and no covering support from the midfield. In a nutshell, it was down to poor concentrate. Something that team must improve if we were to stand a chance against better teams such as Iran and China.

But the breath of fresh air was the introduction of Eddie Helmi. The scorer of two goals against Cambodia was lively on the right flank and looked a threat with his clever runs. In fact he threw in two passes to Akmal which the latter missed. But deep in injury time he made another good run to the UAE box and crossed neatly to Akmal to slot in. This provided much cheer to the Malaysian supporter who still, from what it seemed, believed in the team and still hoping.

Our next friendly is against Jamaica in a week's time and meanwhile, at the same time yesterday our neighbour and Asia Cup co-host, Indonesia, managed to beat Jamaica 2-1 in a friendly of their own in Jakarta. Their goals were scored by former Selangor striker, Bambang Pamungkas. Indonesia has won two out of their last 3 friendlies (winning against Hong Kong and Jamaica, losing to Singapore). So if we are able to maintain concentration and work on our passes, there's a chance it won't be much of a holiday for the touring Reggae Boyz.

Man of the match for Malaysia: Eddie Helmi
Need more work: Shukor and Hairuddin. More passing drills Cikgu Jan!

Full Time Result:
Malaysia 1 - UAE 3

Venue:
Stadium MBPJ

Goals:
Akmal Rizal (injury time)

Players Used:
Azizon Kadir, V. Thirumurugan, Mohd Khaironnisam Shahabuddin, K. Nanthakumar (Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, 73rd), Rosdi Talib, Mohd Ivan Yusoff (Mohd Norfarhan Mohamad, 56th), Norhafiz Zamani Misbah (Mohd Fadzli Saari, 63rd), Mohd Shukor Adan, Shahrulnizam Mustafa (Eddie Helmi Manan, 55th), Akmal Rizal Rakhli, Hairuddin Omar.

TONIGHT! MALAYSIA v UAE

2007-06-21T01:14:00.000-07:00

If you have the time tonight, don't forget to scoot your way to Stadium MBPJ in Petaling Jaya to watch the Pasukan Kebangsaan continue its Asian Cup preparation by playing in a friendly against another Asian Cup participant, United Arab Emirates, the current Gulf Cup holder.

Kick-off is at 8.45pm

PROBABLE LINE-UP

Azizon Kadir, Rosdi Talib, Muhammad Khaironnisam Shahabuddin, K. Nanthakumar, Mohd Hamzani Omar, Mohd Hardi Jaafar, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Mohd Ivan Yusoff, Shahrulnizam Mustapa, Akmal Rizal Rakhli, Mohd Safee Sali

Pusingan U

2007-06-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

Relief after FAM releases players for FA Cup matches
By S.SIVABALAN

PETALING JAYA: It's a big relief, especially for Selangor and Kedah, as all national players preparing for the AFC Asian Cup Finals next month have been released by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) to play in this weekend's return leg FA Cup semi-final matches. A total of 12 players would not have been eligible for the FA Cup semi-finals if the FAM had not reversed their earlier decision to bar their players in training from taking part.

In Saturday's matches, Selangor take on Kedah in Shah Alam while Perlis will be playing Johor PG in Kangar. After the first leg matches last Saturday, Kedah have a 2-0 lead over Selangor while Johor PG hold a 2-1 advantage over the Northern Lions.

Selangor were the worst affected with six players – goalkeeper Syed Andey Syed Hussain, midfielders Shukor Adan, Mohd Fadzli Saari and Amirulhadi Zainal, strikers Akmal Rizal Rakhli and Mohd Safi Sali - in training. Kedah's three players defenders, V. Thirumurugan and Mohd Fauzi Saari, and striker Mohd Khyril Muhymeen, would have been missing.

The other three players affected were two players from Perlis, defenders Fauzie Naan and Azi Shahril Azmi, and one player from Johor PG defender Hamzani Omar
Taken from The Star

Six countries in running to host ASEAN Championships

2007-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Six countries have put themselves forward to be one of two hosts of the 2008 ASEAN Football Championships.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam all declared an interest at an ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) meeting.

The AFF, on its website, said Myanmar and Singapore needed to be inspected before a shortlist of candidates is drawn up at their next meeting, usually held every three months. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are all co-hosts of next month's Asian Cup finals and their facilities are considered adequate for the biennial ASEAN competition, co-hosted by Singapore and Thailand earlier this year.

So far, only Laos has said it wants to host the qualifying rounds.
Taken from AFP news

Okay, so that's next year. Following trends of the previous ASEAN Football Championships, the tournament seems to run around December to January. Hopefully FAM will remind themselves to ENSURE that this time around they have the fixtures planning right. After all, we are the one requesting for the hosting rights.

Previous Report Cards: Asian Cup

2007-06-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

According to wikipedia, these are Malaysia's past performance in the Asia Cup:
1956 - 1972 - Did Not Qualify (5 tournaments in total)
1976 - Round One
1980 - Round One
1984 - 2004 - Did Not Qualify ( 5 tournaments in total)
2007 - Qualified as Host

1976 - Iran
In 1976 when the tournament was held in Iran, Malaysia narrowly missed going into the semis, as the team finished last in Group A consisting of Kuwait, China and Malaysia. This despite having the same points with China, only losing out through goal differences:

Kuwait 2 - 0 Malaysia
China 1 - 1 Malaysia
Kuwait 1 - 0 China

The only goal scored was by the late Mokhtar Dahari. Malaysia actually scored first in the 50' minute, only for the Chinese to equalise 8 minutes later.

1980 - Kuwait
This was the team that consisted of (among others) players like Ramli Junit, Soh Chin Aun, Jamal Nasir, Abdaf Alif and Shukor Salleh and coached by Mohamad Che Su. In a group that also included Korea, Qatar, UAE and the host, Kuwait, Malaysia again missed the semis by coming out third in the group (1 point behind Kuwait that had 5).

Malaysia won 1 and lost 1 game, and drew 2 games.

They drew the game against Qatar and Korea (amazing!), lost 1 -3 to Kuwait and won 2 - 0 against UAE.

Show Me The Money! (Part 2)

2007-06-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

According the news report taken from Utusan Malaysia today, the Pasukan Kebangsaan stands to receive a nice 'reward' from the FAM if they perform well in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2007. Tengku Abdullah, the Vice-President of FAM was quoted as saying that the 'reward' has always been ready and waiting for 'quite some time', but that they have not been able to give it to Pasukan Kebangsaan as they have not performed well in tournaments.

Of course, it helps that FAM has recently received the RM12.3 million from the NSC (National Sports Council). According to the news report, a total of RM 300,000 alone will be given to the team for this Asian Cup outing.

RM 300,000 means Malaysia will get or spend an average of RM 100,000 per game day. Where does this money go to? To the players? To the technical team? Expenditure? If it is the latter, what kind of expenditure? It seems like a lot of money. After all, we are hosting the game and 'we' meaning FAM itself and not the Pasukan Kebangsaan. And being in our country, surely food, accommodation and transport will not cost so much? It does not really specify whether the money will be given during the tournament, or after they achieved some sort of 'success'. So is it an early incentive?

It's pretty hard to understand FAM's stance on this. Are we trying to motivate the team this way? Through rewards? What kind of reward? Money? Land titles? And with the team placed in a very difficult group, how would FAM define as 'performing well'? It will be very subjective.

BorakBola that Malaysia pull some surprise win against China and Uzbekistan and maybe hold Iran to a draw. Ambitious but never impossible because in football anything can happen. Heck, even one win against any of these three giants of Asia would be performing well. But does that mean that the team will be rewarded then?

Fix The Fixture

2007-06-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

This is an example of the stupidity of the artifacts at FAM. You KNOW ahead of time that you will be hosting the Asian Cup. It's not like the AFC told you about it last week. You KNOW that a season should run an x amount of time. But noooooo....they cannot even fix the M League and FA Cup fixtures right. Two, three weeks before the biggest tournament in this continent that you as the HOST will be participating and yet you still arrange the fixtures in such a way that the state teams will lose their key players. Selangor is losing 6 players to the Pasukan Kebangsaan and they are trailing 0 - 2 going into the second leg of the FA Cup semi-final. Of course lah they won't be happy. Don't know how to plan is it? (Oh yeah, we forgot, of course they don't. Otherwise the state of football in this country would not be this bad.)

We admit, to be fair, they probably can come up with the excuse that the JFA (Japan Football Association) is doing the same boo-boo with their fixtures in the J League with relation to their own Asia Cup participation. But JFA is #40 in the world. While Malaysia is like 109 rungs lower.

Would it be cheaper to sack the entire honchos at FAM than to send them to train at England? Or can we use some of the new fundings (see below) for good brain transplants all around?

Brain Transplant. Probably cheaper

Remember that one weekend, when the EPL had the FA Cup Final between United and Chelsea? Guess what? FAM decided to have games that night too. Not surprisingly, when we saw the update of the M League games on TV that night, most of the games were played to empty stadiums. It was already poor attendance before! But this is like playing behind closed doors. Of course your average Malaysians are watching the FA Cup on TV? Takkan tak tahu tahu lagi? We are so sure the bosses of FAM were watching it too instead of going to the M League games. Again, EPL releases their fixtures early. So does the La Liga. Can someone from FAM who handle the fixture cross-check this make sure there are good attendance of the M League games with no distraction from major EPL games?

S'gor to FAM: Please release our players

By S.SIVABALAN

PETALING JAYA: Selangor have appealed to the FA of Malaysia (FAM) to release six of their players from the national team. Selangor face the return leg of the FA Cup semi-final match against Kedah at the Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday. Selangor lost the firt leg 0-2 in Alor Star last Saturday.

Goalkeeper Syed Andey Syed Hussain, midfielders Shukor Adan, Fadzli Saari and Amirulhadi Zainal, as well as strikers Akmal Rizal Rakhli and Mohd Safi Sali, are undergoing their final phase of training with the national team for the Asian Cup Finals which start on July 7.

"It would be extremely difficult for us to play a team like Kedah without our regular players," said Selangor coach Dollah Salleh. "Having one or two missing from the line-up is something I can handle, but missing six first choice players is too much for any team.

"It's a very crucial moment for us in the FA Cup. A two-goal deficit is something we can turn around but it would difficult without our top players," he said. Kedah would also be missing three players on national duty -- defenders V. Thirumurugan and Mohd Fauzi Saari, and striker Mohd Khyril Muhymeen
Taken from The Star

Show Me The Money!

2007-06-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

FAM gets RM12.2m from NSC to run programmes

KUALA LUMPUR: The FA of Malaysia (FAM) have received RM12.2 million from the National Sports Council (NSC) to run their various programmes over the next 12 months.

The bulk of the money of about RM6 million will go towards the Sukan Teras (core sports) programmes while RM3 million will be used for the state football academies. The FAM and the NSC signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) on Monday to ensure that the sports association give their full commitment to running the programmes under the aid scheme.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said said: “For some time now, I have stressed that there is need to be accountable for the aid we give to these associations and that the money under the programme should not be used for other projects. “The FAM are the first association to sign such a MOU. We are happy that they understand the need for it and I am confident that they will carry out the programmes as outlined in their proposal.”

The minister added that all national association who received aid from the NSC were required to sign the MOU. Besides Sukan Teras and the state football academies, the money would also be channelled to junior national teams, Korat SEA Games, Asian Cup, coaching and women’s football.

The FAM were represented by secretary general Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad while director general Datuk Zolkples Embong signed for the NSC.

Dr Ibrahim said that they understood the NSC's stand on the financial aid and gave an assurance that they would adhere to the objectives of the programmes.

“In fact some of the programmes have already begun. We have also set out in our proposal where the money will go and there is be no issue on this score. The programmes are basically to strengthen our grassroots development and we believe that the investments will benefit us in the long run,” he said
Taken from The Star