Ong Kim Swee Anyone ?

Football is currently on the rise in Malaysia. Everyone is into Malaysian football nowadays. Compare today to the days when Malaysian football was at its lowest. Nobody supported them. At the Asian Nations Cup in 2007, where Malaysia co-hosted with Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, that was, arguably, the point where Malaysian football was at its lowest ebb. A 5-0 drubbing by China, was followed by a 5-1 master class by Uzbekistan, before the campaign ended with a 2-0 loss at the hands of a weakened Iran  team. At that time, to wear a Malaysian jersey anywhere was considered stupid and crazy. I know I was called one, back then. Nowadays everyone wears them everywhere. Everyone is an expert in Malaysian football, regardless if they don’t even know the players name, or where they ply their trade. Anyone who criticises the team is considered as ungrateful, shameful and unpatriotic.

I don’t consider myself a football commentator or a pundit. I’m just an enthusiast. I just love football for what it is. The unifying power that it has upon its players and audience. the beauty of the game itself, and how it captures the imagination of, literally billions of people worldwide. There’s almost nothing that’s quite like it.

Hence, in my role as a football enthusiast, I always makes time to watch any type of football, whenever I have the time. Don’t be surprised if I tell you that I’ve watch a few English lower leagues football. Currently I have a particular fondness towards Accrington and Fleetwood. In this capacity also, I always try to make time to watch some Malaysia Super League (MSL) fixtures or even some Premier League (MPL) games. So, I am familiar with a lot of the faces in the national team. I don’t want to brag about this but,  in doing so, I am at least around 80% more familiar with the national team than almost every other people.

The thing is, everytime I criticise the national team, it’s blasphemy. It’s stupid. It’s unpatriotic. For me, this is stupid. Everyone’s opinion, is, well, their opinion, and we have to respect that. If we don’t agree with a statement, fight it using facts, don’t just judge people like how you judge a book by its cover. That’s nonsense. And for the last year, or so, I think my critique has been somewhat proven to be true in some sense.

Firstly, I think it’s time that we part ways with Rajagopal. We can see clearly through a lot of his past selections, he tends to choose the same players, that, frankly speaking is not good enough for the international stage. Sincerely speaking, the guy has lost it. He has lost the prowess that won us the Suzuki Cup a few years back. Evertime we get any unfavourable results, he would always blame it on something, and always asking for time. Time and time again. It’s always the referees fault, or maybe it’s the linesman fault, or maybe it’s the fans that are too quite. Or even because the fact that he just needs another three years. What Rajagopal ? What more do you need ? Four years ago, you said you needed three years to mould the country into genuine Asian contenders. Well, lets assess the situation since that four year period. We’ve knocked out (not to mention humiliatingly against Singapore) in the World Cup qualifying second round. We are nowhere near in reaching the Asian Cup in 2015. And we are currently struggling in the Suzuki Cup. We drew against small footballing nations, the most humiliating of which was against Bangladesh. Bangla-fucking-desh! If that draw came against Vietnam or Lesotho or for fuck sakes Taiwan, it would’ve not sounded too bad, but Bangla-fucking fuck-desh ?!?! Come on! For me, it’s time that we fire him, and appoint someone better to replace the  poor fucker.

A few names comes to mind. There’s the option of hiring a foreigner with a high level of technical understanding. There’s Batistuta if you want a big name. Maradona would spice the team a bit. Ivica Osim may have a bit in him still left if he is tempted. Guardiola could do wonders to our system if the offer is right and IF he is tempted. Or we could always hire a Dutch coach, because a lot of them are really good technically, which we, as a small footballing nation really needs. Then there’s also a few Malaysian that can be placed in the list. There’s B. Sathiananthan if he is tempted to regain back the respect that he yearns. There’s Irfan Bakti, who does wonders with almost every team that he coaches. Then there’s my favourite, which Ong Kim Swee. He’s simple, talks using his heart, picks a good team, nine out of ten, everytime. Just look back at the Malaysia vs Chelsea game last year where he picked an almost uncapped team to face the mighty Chelsea, which Chelsea won 1-0 through a Didier Drogba “goal” which was judged to have entered the goal, eventhough that wasn’t the case. To the FAM, just fire the poor bastard,  hire Ong Kim Swee. OKS is the future. Thank you.