Malaysia national football team
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| Malaysia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Sang Harimau Harimau Malaya Pak Belang |
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| Association | Football Association of Malaysia |
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| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach | Norizan Bakar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home stadium | Bukit Jalil National Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA code | MAS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA ranking | 154 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 75 (August 1993) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 157 (January, 2007) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elo ranking | 153 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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First international South Korea 3 - 2 Malaya  (Singapore; April 13, 1953) |
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Biggest win Malaya 15 - 1 Philippines  (Jakarta, Indonesia; August 27, 1962) |
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| Biggest defeat 2 - 8, once; 1 - 7, once; 0 - 6, four times |
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| AFC Asian Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 1976) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Round 1, 1976 and 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Malaysia national football team is the national team of Malaysia and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia. It has never qualified for the World Cup finals, although the team did qualify to play in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. However, Malaysia did not take part after heeding a United States-led boycott of the Games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Previously, Malaysia's first Olympic appearance was in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. While suffering losses to hosts West Germany and Morocco, Malaysia did beat the USA 3-0. The best years of Malaysian football were from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, during which time Malaysia and South Korea were the two main rivals in East Asia.
However, while South Korea have gone on to compete with some success on the world stage, Malaysia's competitive level has declined. With Malaysian football no longer able to dominate even at the Southeast Asian level, local football fans have, despite the formation of the Malaysian Super League in 2004, slowly turned their interests to foreign leagues in Europe.
The team's FIFA World Ranking fell to an all-time low of 157 in January 2007.
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[edit] History
[edit] The Allan Harris era
In December 2000, Allan Harris was the second big name to be brought in to coach the Malaysian national side after Frenchman Claude LeRoy. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona, but he soon found the Malaysian job to be a little too demanding.
The Football Association of Malaysia had high expectations of him. Harris had limited resources and most players had little or no international exposure.
Midway through his tenure with the national side, he was told to take over the National Under-23 team and as a result, youth development became his responsibility.
When he guided Malaysia to the bronze medal in the regional SEA Games competition, he was derided by sections of the local press for having low expectations. Despite doing a good job with the minimal resources at hand, Harris was constantly under pressure to produce results. The last straw came when Harris' charges lost 4-0 to China in a World Cup qualifier. His contract was not renewed when it ended in 2004.
When he was finally removed from his post, Harris famously took a swipe at local press, telling them he found it difficult to do his job right when "the players didn't even know which shoes to wear for different pitch conditions".
[edit] The Bertalan Bicskei managership
In the second half of 2004, FAM decided on a successor to Harris. Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, succeeded Allan Harris on 1 July 2004.
Coaches such as Bobby Houghton and Dragoslav Stepanovic had been serious contenders for the position of Malaysian head coach before the FAM finally settled on Bicskei.
Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup competition, despite having a squad which was deemed "not strong enough" by local press. The local press took offence in the selection of strikers Amri Yahyah and Khalid Jamlus, who were not key players during Allan Harris' charge. Bicskei 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 storming to confront a Singapore player. He was fired on 15 December 2005.
Subsequently, Bicskei was demoted after his youth players lost 7-0 to rivals Thailand.
[edit] Recent history
The team is currently under the charge of Norizan Bakar, who was previously the coach of Penang. Despite the efforts of the FAM in organizing high profile matches for the national side such as the ones against Manchester United and Brazil, interest for the national side has generally been low.
The Malaysian national side reached the semi-final stage of the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship, losing to Singapore on penalties after playing out a 2-2 draw over two legs.
[edit] Furore over FIFA ranking
The August 2006 FIFA World Rankings placed Malaysia at 148 in the world. This sparked a nationwide furore over the terrible state of football in the country. It became a parliamentary issue and calls for the Football Association of Malaysia to be disbanded had become more and more vocal.
[edit] Trivia
In 1975, Malaysia won a friendly match against English giants Arsenal F.C. 2-0, both goals being scored by Mokhtar Dahari.
[edit] Competition history
[edit] World Cup record
[edit] Asian Cup record
- 1956 - Did not qualify
- 1960 - Did not qualify
- 1964 - Did not enter
- 1968 - Did not qualify
- 1972 - Did not qualify
- 1976 - Round 1
- 1980 - Round 1
- 1984 to 2004 - Did not qualify
- 2007 - Qualified automatically as one of the four co-host countries
[edit] Tiger Cup/ASEAN Football Championship record
- 1996 - Runners-up
- 1998 - Group stage
- 2000 - Third place
- 2002 - Fourth place
- 2004 - Third place
- 2007 ASEAN Football Championship - Semifinalist
[edit] Malaysia squad
[edit] Most recent squad
The squad selected for Malaysia's last international assignment, the semi-finals of the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship vs. Singapore on 27 January 2007.[1]
Goalkeepers:
- Mohamad Syamsuri Mustaffa (Pahang)
- Azizon Abdul Kadir (Negri Sembilan)
Defenders:
- Fauzi Nan (Perlis)
- Azizi Mat Rose (Perlis)
- Norhafiz Zamani Misbah (Negri Sembilan) (co-captain)
- Muhammad Khaironnisam Sahabuddin (UPB MyTeam)
- Irwan Fadli Idrus (Pahang)
- Chan Wing Hoong (Perak)
- Veeran Thirumurugan (Kedah)
- Ronny Harun (Sabah)
Midfielders:
- Mohammad Hardi Jaafar (Melaka Telekom)
- Azi Shahril Azmi (Perlis)
- Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri (Kedah)
- Eddy Helmi Manan (Johor FC)
- Kaliappan Nanthakumar (Perak)
- Safiq Rahim (Selangor)
- Rezal Zamberry Yahya (Negri Sembilan)
- Shukor Adan (Selangor)
Forwards:
- Saramsak Kram (Kedah)
- Mohd Fadzli Shaari (Selangor)
- Nizaruddin Yusof (UPB-MyTeam FC)
- Hairuddin Omar (Pahang (co-captain)
[edit] Foreign based players
- Titus James (FC Villenoy, France)[2]
[edit] Formerly foreign based players
- Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli (Strasbourg, France) (loaned to FC Haguenau for most of his time at Strasbourg)
- Juzaili Samion (SV Wehen, Germany)
- Rudie Ramli (SV Wehen, Germany)
[edit] Famous players
- Abdul Ghani Minhat
- Dollah Salleh
- Hassan Sani
- K Rajagopal
- Khan Hung Meng
- Mokhtar Dahari
- R Arumugam
- Santokh Singh
- Serbageth Singh
- Soh Chin Aun
- Syed Ahmad
- Zainal Abidin Hassan
[edit] References and notes
[edit] See also
- Football Association of Malaysia
- Malaysian Super League
- Malaysian Premier League
- Malaysia Cup
- Malaysian FA Cup
