The announcement that the Malaysia XI to take on Tottenham in the AIG Tour challenge later this month will include locally based foreign players strikes me as an own goal of spectacular proportions. It’s hard to understand why, having endorsed the games against Tottenham (and later, Liverpool), an all-Malaysian squad with the best available players won’t line up against the big Premier League teams in these lucrative (for the visiting clubs) friendlies.
There’s no doubt that it will be a great occasion when the Premier League teams grace these shores for the friendlies, and there’s no doubt that, despite the argument that these tours are a money-making circus for the visiting teams, there is intense interest in the matches.
There are real upsides to the games. There are benefits for the thousands of fans of the English Premier League, getting up close for a rare opportunity to see the people who grace their TV screens each weekend. There are benefits for Tottenham and Liverpool in that they will hope to make a healthy profit from the games, or at least make marketing strides in what they see as the lucrative “Asian” territory.
But an issue to question isn’t so much the Tour games themselves, but the lack of upside for Malaysian football. It is great Liverpool and Tottenham are coming here, and the fan bases of both make it worth their while. It’s not the fault of Liverpool and Tottenham that the Premier League is so popular, and not surprising they try to cash in.
But, if the tourists are coming, there must be an upside for Malaysian domestic or National football. Reasonable? When the Tour was announced, the Star Newspaper quoted Dollah Salleh: “We are running out of time to arrange friendly matches before the World Cup qualifiers, so I will use the match against Spurs to test the players,”
But that all changed with the announcement that up to five players foreign currently contracted with Malaysian clubs may be included in the squad. The anticipated five – Paulo Rangel, Ali Ashfaq, Woong Nam-kung, Guilherme de Paula & Robbie Cornthwaite – are all excellent players, and will no doubt add strength to the team to face Tottenham, but what advantage is that to Malaysia ahead of June’s World Cup fixtures against Timor Leste and Palestine?
If Tottenham (or Liverpool) are not competing against a team that represents Malaysia – even if shorn of JDT and Pahang players – what benefit does Malaysian football get? Certainly, there’s experience to be had for those in the National squad who do get to play in the games, and they’ll have something to talk about for years to come, but it’s a fair guess that Rangel & Ali Ashfaq will play up front, Guilherme and Nam-kung will play in central midfield and Cornthwaite will be at centre back. The spine of the team will be foreign. How does that help Malaysia?
There is a genuine value to these big-club Tour matches. Old timers still recall with pride the matches against Arsenal in 1975 when the legendary Mokhtar Dahari fired Malaysia to a famous win at the Merdeka Stadium, and then followed up with a draw in the second match of the tour.
One of Astro’s commentator/presenter/analyst extraordinaire Stanley Bernard Samuel’s career highlights was the game he played against Manchester United. And the Tour matches against Barcelona, Arsenal, Man City & United, Liverpool and Chelsea – even QPR’s visit to Kelantan – are still recalled vividly and fondly.
I didn’t buy into the “danger” of players picking up injuries in these matches as you can pick up injuries in training or other friendlies, and while a match against the Philippines might have helped improve the truly shocking 166 FIFA World ranking, it’s difficult to argue against the profile generated by these matches.
So there is a real “value” to these matches for Malaysia. But that “value” is rendered near useless if the experience and the memory goes to a non Malaysian. With due deference to Rangel and co, (and confessing that I adore watching Ali Ashfaq play), there is no valid justification for them to be given a place. If Rangel plays, what message does that send to Selangor’s Afiq Azmi? Imagine the theoretical conversation: “Thanks bro. You may be the top Malaysian scorer in the Super League, but sorry, you’re not good enough. These are proper players coming to visit us and we can’t trust just local lads against proper players. You understand don’t you?”
It has constantly amazed this correspondent how in South East Asia – and Malaysia in particular – HOME talent is so-often dismissed as second best, and too-often treated as third class. Even if they are second best, they are the best available and have worked incredibly hard to get to the top of their profession. So why curtail an opportunity to improve, or have a golden memory from a lifetime devoted to the sport.
For all the money invested in sending the teams to Slovenia and Australia, when a golden opportunity comes at home to match Malaysian players up against some of the best in the world, what logic is there in denying them this chance?
The fact that Johor and JDT players will be missing from the squad, and that the SEA Games is upon us when Tottenham come to town shouldn’t mean the team should be bolstered by foreign players. What is the intention? To avoid a bigger defeat?
Norshahrul Idlan Talaha looks like he’s rediscovered his mojo in Terengganu. Why do Paulo Rangel or Ali Ashfaq (with all respect to two great entertainers to the League) deserve to play ahead of Mat-yo? Selangor’s Shahrom Kalam has earned his chance in the National team by doing the hard yards at KL, Perak and now Selangor. Surely by picking him ahead of team-mate Robbie Cornthwaite would give Dollah a better chance of assessing his true capabilities at a top-level. A match against Harry Kane will benefit him – and Malaysia – more than 29-year-old Cornthwaite.
The whole issue of Big name Club Tours is a problem for just about every country that hosts them. For Malaysia read Australia, Thailand, United States, Singapore and even India. At a time when the Domestic Leagues in each of these nations is professionalising and is desperate for credibility – and in Malaysia’s case, simultaneously setting up mega million dollar broadcasting deals – they are still treated as a second class citizens.
Even the “sell” for the game is that Tottenham – and later Liverpool – are coming, and not that Malaysia are preparing for World Cup qualification matches. When even Malaysia’s own marketing teams can’t or won’t set it up as a home sell, then there’s an issue which makes legitimising your own domestic game even more difficult. And then it’s decided that not only is there going to be an invitation to the commercial Colonials, but that we won’t even maximize on-field benefits? (Scratches head in bemusement). It’s an own goal before the games have started.
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