And Now, The Under-19

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