After having made heads turn in regional competitions with back-to-back victories in the SEA Games (Under-23) and Asean Football Federation (AFF) championship (senior international), they want to scale bigger heights.
Team manager Datuk Subahan Kamal said that the next target for Malaysia would be to qualify for the 2015 Asia Cup Finals.
“I feel that it is time for us to raise the bar to the Asian level,” he said.
All eyes: Indonesia’s Hamka Hamsah vying with Safee Sali as Norshahrul Idlan looks on.Malaysian football has been on the rise since their Under-23 side under the charge of coach K. Rajagopal won the SEA Games gold medal in Laos last December.
It was the first time in 20 years that the team emerged as the champions in the biennial regional Games.
Last night, Malaysia won the AFF championship title for the first time since the biennial tournament was introduced in 1996.
Malaysia, featuring in only their second final since finishing as runners-up to Thailand in the inaugural tournament in Singapore 14 years ago, defeated Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate to lift the Suzuki Cup.
Subahan said that Malaysia would not rest on their laurel and would work hard to achieve their next goal in the Asia Cup after failing to get past the group stage early this year, losing to the United Arab Emirates (0-6 on aggregate) and Uzbekistan (2-6).
“We have to prepare this team by giving them more exposure and competitive matches,” said Subahan, who is also a vice-president of the FA of Malaysia (FAM).
“It is not sufficient for the players to feature for their respective teams at home. This group of players have to be kept together for maturity before the 2015 Asian Cup.”
Rajagopal has worked wth a young set of players with an average of 22 years in the present national team.
Centreback Mohd Fadhli Shas is 19 while goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, defenders Mohd Muslim Ahmad, Mahali Jasuli andMohd Faizal Mohd, midfielder K. Gurusamy and striker Izzaq Faris Ramlan are all 21-years-old.
Subahan said that continuity was also important for Malaysia to make waves at the next SEA Games and AFF tournament.
“We don’t want this to be a one off thing. We have to set a benchmark and will have to work on raising the bar for the players all the time. Nobody gave these boys a chance but we in the FAM worked hard for this success,” he said.
“Hopefully, our national team ranking improves and this will give us better recognition among the Asian giants to come and play with us. Nobody wants to play with a low ranked team. That is why we can’t get matches for our boys.
“Perhaps, this would make the others take notice and they should be looking at us on a different perspective from now.”
Malaysia last played in the Asia Cup Finals in 2007 by virtue of being one of the four South-East Asian hosts for the group stage of the tournament together with Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Only Vietnam made it to the quarter-finals.
For the record, Malaysia’s big moments in football were when they won the bronze at the Asian Games in 1962 (Jakarta) and 1974 (Teheran).
Malaysia played in the 1972 Munich Olympics and also qualified for the 1980 edition but did not compete as the country joined a boycott of the Moscow Games.
BY ERIC SAMUEL
BY ERIC SAMUEL
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