The cyberworld is still abuzz with criticisms that Singapore’s victory over Malaysia in the World Cup qualifier was a “hollow” one because it had used “imports” to secure its victory.
Malaysia drew 1-1 with Singapore in the second round, second leg match of the Asian Zone qualifier at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Although the match ended in a draw, Malaysia lost by a 4-6 aggregate, sending the island-state
to the third round of the qualifying match for the World Cup in 2014.
All its six goals came from naturalised players Aleksandar Duric and Fahrudin Mustafic who were born in Yugoslavia, and China-born Shi Jiayi and Qiu Li.
Under FIFA rules, foreign players can represent a particular country on condition they’ve appeared for local teams in the country for minimum of five years and obtained citizenship.
Now, assuming Malaysia won the match, will the issue of using naturalised players arise? It sounds like a case of sour grapes for Malaysia to make an issue of Singapore’s foreign players.
Many European countries have naturalised players in their teams. Two players who come to mind are Brazil’s Deco and Alex who played for Portugal and Japan in the World Cup respectively.
Unlike Malaysians, no one kicked up a fuss over their appearances for these two nations during the World Cup or for that matter, during the qualifying rounds.
The excuse by the critics for Malaysia’s loss due to the presence of naturalised players in Singapore is a lame one as none of them are players in the calibre of a superstar footballer.
If Singapore had fielded Carlos Tevez, Christian Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, there might be justification to forward the argument, but none of Singapore’s foreign-born players are top-class footballers.
It’s a shame to see Malaysia’s young defenders unable to stop Singapore’s ageing naturalised 41-year-old striker Aleksandar Duric.
Let’s assume Malaysia had made it to the finals of World Cup in Brazil; will critics still give the excuse that Malaysia lost some of its group matches due to imports?
Singapore was also criticised for its delaying tactics by feigning injury at the slightest tackle. In modern football, it’s not important how you play but how you won the match.
Rajagopal’s blunder
The important thing is the result. Jose Mourinho, when he was Chelsea manager, was criticised by other EPL managers for his defensive approach after his team was ahead by a goal or two.
One of his fiercest critics was Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger who preferred a free-flowing attacking game. The maverick Mourinho, unfazed by all the brickbats, stuck to his strategy and at the end of the season Chelsea emerged EPL champion.
If Singapore’s win can be labelled as “hollow”, Malaysia’s achievements in the SEA Games, especially in athletics and shooting, came through its “imports”.
Malaysia delivered in SEA Games through Yuan Yufang from China in 10km and 20km marathon. Then we had Irina Maharani in the women’s shooting competition.
Will the same Malaysian football critics agree that the Malaysia’s achievements in these events were “without pride” as well because they came from “imported” athletes?
At least in football matches, it’s team play, unlike in marathon and shooting which is individual play. What we must learn is that we must accept the defeat and fight for the betterment in coming competitions.
Even though the national coach K Rajagopal had raised the national team’s standard over the past two years, he must take the blame for his poor choice of defenders against Singapore.
This is not the Olympic team for him to field Under-23 players who were not even the best performers in the Malayasian League.
Why did he not recall experienced defenders like Norhafiz Zamani Misbah and S Subramaniam, who acquitted them admirably during the National Second Team versus Chelsea?
Rajagopal chose to ignore calls for Norhafiz and Subramaniam to be included in the team after the defence’s weak performance against Singapore in Stadium Jalan Besar.
Why he refused to field these seasoned defenders in the second leg in Stadium Bukit Jalil is anybody’s guess. He paid dearly for it!
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