As the English football fans vented their frustration over their team failure to beat Montenegro in the World Cup qualifying match, I'm pretty sure 'Harimau Malaya' supporters are feeling the same after our national football team were beaten by war torn Palestinian 0 – 2 at Darul Makmur Stadium last night. Sure, it was just an international charity match to raise money for the Lahad Datu Warriors Fund and Palestine Humanitarian Fund but the manner our boys were outfought and outplayed were of some concern. With the team results over the past two years not been encouraging, we surely need a morale boosting win from this game albeit it being just a friendly one.
With due respect to coach, Datuk K. Rajagobal, two things really annoyed me last night. First is the team selection and secondly the commitment from our players. I'm pretty sure Datuk K. Rajagobal has a good reason for his team selection but I suspect he did not take this game seriously and sent his troop without intention to win.
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In fact, he probably named his team without naming his last man since the defence is all over the place with nobody taking charge. Maybe he wished to experiment more players, I don't know, but I feel that the team sorely needed an uplift after so many disappointing results and a back to back win after 2 – 1 win over Yemen last week will do the team plenty of good. I hope I'm wrong but I'm just voicing my concern as a Harimau Malaya fan.
For me the 2 – 0 win actually flattered the Palestinians. The truth is we are more technically superior and have more skilful players than them. But what we lacked last night were the fighting spirit and determination of our Middle East opponent. The Palestinians worked their socked up and fight hard for every ball. They put plenty of pressure on our players and oh how I love the way they celebrated their goal. They celebrate it like they scored against Brazil or Spain. Love their spirit and determination. Something our Harimau Malaya must try to emulate even in a charity game.
I think more than half of the players that started the game against Palestine won't be featured in our next competitive game unless of course injuries hit our team. Farizal Marlias and the whole backline had a shocker and we were lucky we were not playing against Japan or Korea, otherwise the score line will be totally embarrassing for us last night. Still, I like the young lad a lot. I hope it was just one bad day at the office and he will be back strongly after this. For now, the No. 1 jersey definitely belongs to Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.
Apart from Aidil Zafuan, we don't have any established defenders around. We have few good prospects in Fadhli Shas and Muslim Ahmad but they still have a lot to learn. Same problems were highlighted in the midfield last night with Safiq Rahim the only player good enough to play at Asian level. Nonetheless, Datuk K. Rajagobal can still call the likes of Wan Zek Haikal, Gary Steven Robbat and Mohd Nazmi Faiz to beef up the team. Hence we actually got lots of good options in the midfield but we still need a skilful and pacey winger to hurt the opponent when facing problems breaching their defence from the middle. Something that Prof Dr Khoo Kay Kim recently brought up in the media.
As for our attack, we sorely missed Safee Sali each time he's not playing. The guy is probably the only natural striker that we have. Others like Norsharul Adlan Talaha and Amri Yahya are better playing off the main striker i.e the No. 10 role like Rooney and Eden Hazard. I see good potential in Harimau Muda's Rozaimi Abdul Rahman. The young Sabahan could be the successor to Safee Sali but he still requires lots of experience and needs to sharpen up his skill.
Overall, we have several good players to be the backbone of the team. Datuk K. Rajagobal just needs to find a few more plus good backups in case of injuries. The key player in Harimau Malaya team is absolutely Safiq Rahim. On his day, he can be very inspirational. However, I suspect his fitness is not up to the level that I would like him to be. He tends to be suddenly missing in the game especially in the second half as Selangor and Darul Takzim fans can testify. Maybe the coaches can come up with a program for him to increase his fitness level. Having him active for 90 minutes on the field will surely do well for the team.
I think fans will demand for an improved performance in the next game. We have been charitable on the pitch against the Palestinians. Some may be forgiving and just want to come see football. Others may not however, as evident by them leaving the stadium even before the final whistle was blown.
- Yet Another Defeat For Harimau Malaya
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