The recent FIFA World rankings sent Malaysian football fans into a frenzy.
Malaysia dropped 12 spots to 167th place, compared to 155th place last month.
Fans have taken to social media to vent their anger and frustration at the new ranking, and some convinced that things are not going to change.
However, we must bear in mind that Malaysia have had only two international matches this year.
One is a friendly which we drew with the Philippines, and one AFC Cup fixture against Lebanon which we lost.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have responded to the outburst of negative comments, asking local football fans to calm down.
“It is definitely not surprising that we dropped from 155th to 167th place. We knew that was going to happen when we lost to Lebanon in June. There has been no matches since then, since the M. League has resumed.” the statement on FAM’s Facebook page read.
“In September, we are going to schedule a few matches to get our points back. We will also be studying the match schedules, and hire a “ranking consultant”, just like how India has done.”
“We are in a system that has been asleep for 30 years that did not contribute much. Ranking changes and infrastructure development will take time.”
“In September, we have a technical director who will work together with the ranking consultant. Not much can change in a 100 days.”
“However, our futsal ranking has increased from 69th place to 64th place. Be realistic.”
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