Malaysian Under-13 squad with the National Football Development Program (NFDP) shone bright at the recent Europe tour, recording five victories out of seven matches.
They started in style beating FA Barnsley School 7-0 in the first round before crushing Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 a day later.
The momentum was maintained in the following match against Liverpool with an exciting 3-2 win, with a slim 1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers (QPR) coming after.
However, the cold weather in England proved to be a factor as Lim Teong Kim’s boys bowed down 0-2 to defending champions Manchester City, before claiming a 1-1 draw with Reading FC.
According to NFDP director general Safirul Azli Abu Bakar, the weather conditions have contributed to losing their perfect win record, which saw them cruising through before the defeat at City.
“Our boys have not been getting used to the freezing weather in England. Having said that, players should be exposed to these kind of conditions to prepare them well in the future.”
“Nevertheless, we came to England for experience, so losing and winning is not to affect our confidence,” he told Arena Metro.
The Malaysian side is expected to face West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur in the final rounds of the tour.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
The Europe tour is a fantastic idea for our national Under-13 boys. It provides them much exposure against established players in reputed clubs. Europe is known to produce football’s best players as proven in the past, so our boys will have more knowledge on their growth as a footballer. This could lead to our country producing more talented local footballers instead of importing foreign players to represent the national team.
Other posts by Tharshanan Manoharan
