Malaysia's 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup Assessment

This post is a little bit late than it should but I'm posting it anyway. Malaysia National Football Team failed to defend their AFF Suzuki Cup this year. We won the competition for the first time 2 years ago by defeating our arch rival Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate in the final  This time we only managed to get to the semi-final or in other word, we managed to past the group stage, depending on how you look at it. Having said that, in my opinion, I think it's not good enough. Sure, it was our coach Rajagopal's initial target and we achieved it. However, it's not an impressive achievement considering we were the defending champions.

Here's how can we look at it. Qualified to the semi-final can be considered as a decent tournament. By saying that, we acknowledge that we are in the same level as the rest of South-East Asian countries. We look at some of the countries; Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, & Philippines, non of them are actually way better than the others. We have the same level of physical & technical abilities as them. However, the eventual finalists,Thailand & Singapore, did a lot better than us. The differences between those countries, including us, are teams' tactical & style of play. In fact, level of commitment & determination during matches are the other factors that should be considered. Thailand for example, play a better football than us. They keep the ball on the ground and play simple passes. Their players move quickly to free spaces supporting their teammates. I honestly think that Thailand deserve the winner instead of Singapore. Singapore did well too. Like Thailand, they play a simple football. The main reason of their success is because of their coach, Avramovic. I don't know much about Avramovic but he seems like a great coach who knows about tactics very well. He proves that he's one the best coaches in ASEAN football, winning the tournament for the 3rd time, all with Singapore. He knows his players ability & how to use them in the squad. In contrast our squad play unattractive & useless direct game, which really annoyed me because the fact that we played like Thailand in 2010. This brings me to the argument that we should consider our achievement qualifying to the semi-final as a poor performance overall. By now, our country should have made a real progress compared to 2010. We should have been playing a better football with more quality players are brought in to the squad. Instead, we have fallen back to same level before winning the tournament 2 years ago.

So, what went wrong for Malaysia? What Rajagopal did wrong? Based on opinions from our supporters, it's a consensus view that the selection of players for our national team is the main factor of our failure. It's clear that some of our players are not good enough to represent our nation & some of them are in the 'comfort zone' that lead to poor performances.

It's a mystery as to why Badhri (Piya), Norfarhan, & some other players that performed well for their clubs didn't get a call-up from Rajagopal. It's even more confused to see players from Super League's relegated team, Kedah; Amar, Baddrol, & Khyril, were selected rather than players from the treble winner team, Kelantan. Rajagopal's favoritism towards Amar is mind-boggling.  I understand that Rajagopal wanted to make Amar as a pivot defensive-midfielder - a player who stays behind his partner(s) in center-midfield, plays simple passes to keep team's possession of the ball, stops opponent's creative midfielders from making through passes and forward runs, & supports full-backs when the opponent attacks. Things like Busquet, Mikel, Lucas, & Carrick do for their team. The problem is, Amar is not good enough, especially when Malaysia play 2 center-midfielders. He's not mobile & lack of speed. Amar is most effective when there are 3 center-midfielders including him so that he can sits in-front of center-backs as an anchorman.  Shakir did well replacing Amar in the second group match beating Laos before got injured. I personally preferred Gary Robert in that position because he's hard-working, tough tackler, & tough lad. As for, Baddrol & Khyril, no real contributions to the team. They looked weak.

Fakhri Saarani selection is another player that raised supporter's eyebrows. I don't think he had a great season with Felda United and I'm not sure if anyone even noticed him in Malaysian League. Clearly he's not our best player. He's strong and aggressive player. Other than that, he's just another footballer. Not a clinical striker nor a creative winger. A playmaker? Not even close.  Not sure why he was picked. I'd pick Shahrurain (Negeri Sembilan) if I were the coach. Heck, I'd even give a chance to Fitri Syazwan (Selangor),  Venice (ATM), or Afiq Azmi (KL, Kelantan, Selangor). They are much better player than Fakhri is in my view.

Safiq Rahim, our captain & key player, failed to impress in this tournament. I'm a big fan of his. I really like his style of play. He drops deep to get the ball, make forward & side passes, clever in attempting through passes, and of course, his set-piece ability is quite special. He plays like Xavi, although he's way off that Spaniard's level. Sadly, he was poor for the whole tournament. In fact, he didn't do well since Super League ended. He had a fine season with Selangor in the league but didn't manage to keep his momentum in Malaysian Cup & Suzuki Cup. It's hard to say why he couldn't produce the same display like he did in 2010. The only reason I can think of is that he (and some other key players) is in the 'comfort zone'. Rajagopal rates him highly, so high that Piya didn't even get a chance to play. His luxurious transfer to Johor Darul Takzim for next season's campaign could be the reason why he seems distracted too.

Safee Sali didn't have a great tournament. Only one goal for supposedly our best player is considered poor. Our defense? Not much can we say. We do have a problem on our left-back though. Azmi, Zubir, & Bunyamin couldn't produce the same performance like Mahali did at right-back. Clearly we missed Asraruddin's presence. Aidil & Fadhli had a decent tournament. They were poor in the first match against Singapore. Careless, lost focus, & lack of communication. They picked up themselves well in the next few matches. Fadhli ended the tournament with a red card thanks to a ridiculous & idiot refereeing from Korean's official, Lee Min-Hu (remember that name, fellas). Our first choice goakeeper Khairul Fahmi made a howler in the first match and later replaced with Farizal Marilas. Farizal was exceptional. He was one of our top performers in the tournament; alongside Mahali & Norshahrul.

Speaking of Norshahrul, I think he did very well for us. Not sure other supporters share the same view as me. I thought he worked his socks off. Always tried to change the game with his runs & dribbles. He scored one goal and involved heavily in our attack. It's a shame that Hazwan Bakri didn't get a chance to show what he can do. Hazwan is a sharp finisher in my view. Maybe not as strong as Safee in challenging opponents but I think Rajagopal should have given him a chance. If Norfarhan or Afiq had been picked, they could have contributed something too (was Norfarhan injured and couldn't be selected? I'm not sure about this fact). I like to point out here Mahali Jasuli's performance were top class. He worked very hard on right hand side, very industrious, didn't afraid to take on opponents, provided width, supported right-winger with his overlap runs, scored a goal, and assisted Norshahrul's goal against Thailand. Without a doubt, he is Malaysia's best player on the tournament. I'm glad he's joining Selangor for 2013 campaign.

Other than players selection, Rajagopal certainly failed to make the best out of our players abilities. Our football system & gameplay were unimpressive at all. I hate when a team like us play a direct football. We should play possession football because majority of our players are not so big & tall. Keep the ball on the ground and play short passes. What it is so hard about that? Sure, some of our players' first touch aren't that great and passes inaccurate, but we shouldn't waste our energy kicking the ball upfront and chase them like bunch of school boys. Like I said, Thailand was the best example of playing possession football. They show how effective it is playing a simple game. We lost against Singapore & Thailand (2nd-leg) simply because we couldn't control the match. Our energy wasted in chasing opponents & loose balls. The fact that we were behind and lost a player didn't make our job any easier. Our transition from defenders to midfielders to strikers were poor. Midfielders failed to control the tempo of the games. Strikers & wingers weren't doing enough in beating players & afraid to play around (one-two passes for example) inside penalty box.

I'm not a big fan of Kunanlan. He's fast &  hard-working. However, he's also lack of intelligence in producing end products. He has played so many matches for Malaysia but how many assists & goals has he contributed in the past few years? It's so few that I can't even remember. He's never scored for Malaysia & Malaysia U-23. Think about that. Azamuddin Akil & Wan Zack contributed well in wide area. Wan Zack is athletic & fast. Although he still needs to improve in many aspect of his game. He needs to work harder in improving his off-the-ball movement. His crossing ability is quite poor to be honest. I'm sure in few years time he will be an important player for Malaysia. Akil plays well whenever he's confident. Brave & hard-working.

Overall, Malaysia were just not good enough to win the tournament. We did well against Indonesia but they weren't at their best too. We failed to make a progress. We've moved backward really. There are lot to be done in the future for Rajagopal if we want to qualify for 2015 AFC Asian Cup. Should he stay or should he go? I'll make a different entry about that.

Our supporters have been fantastic. The raise of Harimau Malaya fans are incredible. I remember watching a friendly match between Malaysia U-23 vs Korea U-23 with less than 2000 fans turned out. In recent Suzuki Cup, more than 50 000 spectators for every matches. It's great to see we enjoy our local football again (including Malaysian League). Not to mention, Ultras Malaya have been the catalyst in raising the spirit among our supporters. Amazing stuff from supporters' side. Hopefully our national team will repay our faith with a better football and qualify for 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia.