Before the establishment of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, the Malaysia national football team was known as Malaya national football team. Malaya's biggest achievement in football was becoming the bronze medalist in 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia after defeating South Vietnam 4–1.
After the establishment of the Malaysian Federation in 1963, the team became known as the Malaysia national football team. Malaysia qualified for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, beating Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Philippines en route. Although they managed to defeat the United States 3–0, they lost the other 2 matches by losing 3–0 to West Germany and 6–0 to Morocco. Two years later, Malaysia won their second bronze medal at the 1974 Asian Games after defeating North Korea 2–1. The team went on to qualify twice in a row for the AFC Asian Cup, in 1976 and 1980. Malaysia qualified again for the Olympics in 1980 in Moscow, but joined the boycott of the games. The team also won the Merdeka Tournament 3 times, became runner-up 4 times and being third place 2 times during the 1970s.
In 1994 as Malaysian football was embroiled in one of the biggest bribery scandals in the country. With the dearth of mainstream interest and lack of funds, Malaysian football has failed to repeat the achievements of the 1970s and 1980s, despite the recruitment of Claude LeRoy. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona and Allan Harris as coaches.
2004–2005
In the second half of 2004, FAM selected Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, to succeed Allan Harris.
Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup competition, but was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly against Singapore in Penang on June 8, 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before confronting a Singapore player. In September 2005 the contract was terminated after mutual agreement.[4]
2005–2007
Norizan Bakar became the next head coach of the Malaysian team. He guided the Malaysian squad to the ASEAN Cup semifinals in 2007, where Malaysia lost through penalties to Singapore. Norizan's position as the head coach was criticized by the Malaysian football community, fans and officials alike, after the team's performances during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, where Malaysia lost to China 1–5, Uzbekistan 0–5 and Iran 0–2.
After the removal of Norizan Bakar, B. Sathianathan took over as head coach. Although he guided the squad to win the 2007 Merdeka Tournament, Malaysia once again failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing 4–1 and drawing 0–0 with Bahrain in the qualifying round.
2007–2009
In 2008, Sathianathan once again guided the team to the final of the 2008 Merdeka Tournament. However, Malaysia lost through penalties to Vietnam. Sathianathan also led Malaysia to the semi finals of 2008 Myanmar Grand Royal Challenge Cup. However, Malaysia then shockingly lost 4–1 to eventually winners, Myanmar.[5]
During the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup, Malaysia started their campaign with a 3–0 win over Laos, but were defeated in the second match by Vietnam with a score of 2–3 and were finally eliminated when they lost 3–0 to Thailand in the final match of the group stage. This was the first time that the Malaysian squad had not passed through the group stages in 12 years.
In the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian team lost 0–5 to the United Arab Emirates. This defeat was the final straw in the eyes of the Malaysian supporters, and in February 2009, the contracts of Sathianathan and manager Soh Chin Aun were terminated.[6] Former U-20 Malaysia and Kelantan coach, Datuk K. Rajagopal was selected as the new head coach for Malaysia. He took over on July 2009.
Revival of the national team
On July 2009, Datuk K. Rajagopal was named the new coach of Malaysia replacing B. Sathianathan as head coach of Malaysia. K. Rajagopal was also the coach of the Under-23 Malaysia.[7] K. Rajagopal's first duty was against Zimbabwe which Malaysia won 4–0.[8] Rajagopal also coached Malaysia in two games against the visiting English champions, Manchester United, losing in both matches 2–3 and 0–2. During his duty as the coach of the Under-23 team, K. Rajagopal led Malaysia to their fifth SEA Games gold medal and also led Malaysia to qualify for the second round of the2010 Asian Games as one of the best four third-placed teams after a lapse of 32 years.[9][10]
During the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, Malaysia had 14 players at the age of under-23 while the other players were over 23. Malaysia were in group A with host Indonesia, Thailand and qualifiers winner, Laos. Malaysia began their campaign with a embarrassing loss of 5–1 against Indonesia. Malaysia bounced back from their defeat and later drew Thailand and beat Laos 5–1. As runner up of group, Malaysia qualified to the semi finals to meet Group B winners and defending champions Vietnam.[11] In the first leg of the semifinal, Malaysia won 2–0 at home soil and later drew the second leg advancing to the final with an aggregate of 2–0 .[12] Malaysia went on to the finals to meet favourites Indonesia who were unbeaten in all their matches. On the first leg of the finals, Malaysia won 3–0 at home. Malaysia scored twice through Safee Sali and once by Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddinon a night National Stadium, Bukit Jalil was filled over capacity for the first time since it was built. The match attracted so many people that after tickets were sold out, policemen manning the gates were seen allowing friends and relatives into the stadium causing people having to trespass onto the cable bridge above the electronic display besides standing on the aisles and corridors to secure a view of the game. On the second leg of the finals that was held in Jakarta, Malaysia lost 2–1 to Indonesia but the final aggregate was 4–2 to Malaysia, hence giving the title to Malaysia.
Malaysia won the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup title for the first time in their history under the management of Datuk K. Rajagopal.[13]
2011
After the successful year on 2010, Malaysia had high hopes for qualifying and winning friendly matches in the upcoming tournaments such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. TheMalaysian under-23 team, had been taken over by Ong Kim Swee and his Under 21 team, Harimau Muda A. Malaysia coach, Datuk K. Rajagopal had arranged a friendly match againstHong Kong which is ranked 145th. K. Rajagopal says that Malaysia should play a match once a month.[14] On the under 23 side, Ong Kim Swee arranged two friendly matches againstThailand under-23 and Singapore under-23 in a preparation for the 2012 Olympics qualifiers. Malaysia U-23 lost narrowly 2–1 to Thailand U-23 and won 2–0 against Singapore U-23.[15][16]
On 4 February 2011, FAM announced that they would call up the Malaysian/Australian player that is currently playing for Bonnyrigg White Eagles, Brendan Gan. Even though Brendan was born and raised at Australia, He could play for Malaysia through parentage as his father is a Malaysian Chinese from Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.[17][18]
Malaysia's 2011 campaign started off brilliantly with a 2–0 win against Hong Kong. Malaysia was scored by Mohd Safiq Rahim on the 44th minute and Mohd Amirul Hadi Zainal on the 92nd minute.[19] FAM wanted to boost the morale for the national team by hosting a major tournament. On 19 February 2011, the ASEAN Football Federation announced that Malaysiaand Thailand will be the preliminary host of the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup.[20]
No comments:
Post a Comment