Khairy up against FAM brick wall

What does two obscure and relatively unknown countries such as Liechtenstein and Gabon have in common and in context with Malaysia?

Well, for one they are ranked much higher than Malaysia in the latest (October 2013) installment of the FIFA World rankings.

Frankly, I do not know the intricate mechanics that FIFA uses to decide the ranking but what I do know is that one has to win to earn points which go towards the rankings, the one area which we have not been able to pull off consistently.

A quick check indicates that Gabon is located in the West Coast of Central Africa with a population of slight more than 1.5 million, while Liechtenstein is a landlocked alpine country situated in central Europe bordered by Switzerland and Austria. Estimated population, 35,000 (according to Wikipedia).

Ok, enough of geography and let’s get back to the rather pressing issue at hand, the standard of football or rather the lack of it which has been on the decline and for want of a better word, is currently at rock bottom.

Malaysia occupies the 160th position while the likes of Myanmar (149), Vietnam (151) and Belize (145) to mention a few countries, which were not even in the radar when Malaysia qualified for the 1980 Olympics are placed much higher.

Coach Rajagopal has done a splendid job

National football coach K Rajagopal is probably feeling very “hunted” these days following the outcry from certain sections of fans after his team’s defeat to Qatar last Tuesday, in the run-up to the Asian Cup tournament in 2015.

However I, like many silent Malaysians, purely feel that the man has done a splendid job with the Malaysian team till to date, even from the standpoint of Malaysian football history.

If any reasonable Malaysian cares to do a reality check with the history of the Malaysian national football team, it won’t be difficult to realise that since the days of Soh Chin Aun, there was no real credible winning team anywhere until Rajagopal took over the coaching of the Harimau team.

With his guidance, we at least won  two regional tournaments in recent years and brought some prestige to the country, after years of waiting in agony.

Of course, its easy for certain hardcore fans and even certain past players who are now armchair critics and possibly also wannabe future coaches, to spew venom at every opportunity, but the fact remains that Rajagopal has indeed lifted the performance level since those early days of Santokh Singh, Mokhtar Dahari and R Arumugam, while many others, both local and foreign, failed.

Now that Rajagopal's contract ends on Dec 31, 2013 the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) may feel compelled to not extend his contract, but let it be said for the record that this man, Rajagopal, had truly done his duty to the nation by lifting the national team’s performance to the levels of the Middle Eastern nations.

 I sincerely wish him  better days ahead whatever the outcome.

 Thank you, Datuk.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/247335