FMT - There’s no Malaysia in Malaysian football, says Peter Velappan (extracts):
PETALING JAYA: A veteran football administrator says Malaysian football is going downhill because it’s no longer a “Malaysian game” played by the country’s different races, in the wake of the national team’s failure to qualify for the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.
Speaking to FMT, Peter Velappan, who served as AFC secretary-general for nearly three decades, said Malaysia had the potential to be the number one footballing country in Asia, owing to its racial and cultural diversity.
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“In my time, any state team, you would have had Malays, Chinese, and Indians. But today, where are the Chinese and the Indians?”
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legendary Mokhtar Dahari |
PETALING JAYA: A veteran football administrator says Malaysian football is going downhill because it’s no longer a “Malaysian game” played by the country’s different races, in the wake of the national team’s failure to qualify for the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.
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Soh Chun Aun the 'Towkay' another of Malaysia's finest footballer |
Speaking to FMT, Peter Velappan, who served as AFC secretary-general for nearly three decades, said Malaysia had the potential to be the number one footballing country in Asia, owing to its racial and cultural diversity.
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R 'Spiderman' Arumugum, probably Malaysia's best goalkeeper |
“We have the talent. We proved this in qualifying for the 1972 and 1980 Olympics. Since then, our whole system of development, coaching, and team leadership has gone downhill, so we can’t produce top class talent.”
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Zainal Abidin Hassan same league as Mokhtar Dahari as a forward when he moved forward to strike, he terrorised the opposition |
Velappan said a key reason why Malaysia had not been able to produce talent equal to the “golden generation” of the 70s and 80s, was the lack of diversity.
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Santokh 'Ironman' Singh (with Mokhtar) invincible fullback |
“In my time, any state team, you would have had Malays, Chinese, and Indians. But today, where are the Chinese and the Indians?”
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Lim Teong Kim - ruthless midfielder played in Germany and also asst coach for Bayern Munich U-19 Team |
Indeed, it's bad enough not to have another Mokhtar Dahari but where's the 'Spiderman' Arumugum, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Aun, Wong Chun Wah, Chow Chee Keong, Lim Teong Kim, etc etc? Where's a Malaysian team?
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Wong Chun Wah & goalkeeper Chow Chee Keong |