MELAKA: National football legend, Datuk Soh Chin Aun has proposed that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) engages a coach from Japan or South Korea to guide Harimau Malaya.
He felt the national football team should emulate the Blue Samurais and The Reds as they are among the most successful teams in Asia and had qualified for Fifa World Cup.
According to him, when Malaysia was setting up the semi-pro league in 1989 to 1993 before going professional in 1994, the Japanese were willing to be with FAM to learn the method.
“However, look at Japan and South Korea now, they are far ahead of the national squad. “Speaking of coaches…why are we not trying now the expertise of Japan and South Korea as well as learning how they succeeded to reach the World Cup,” he told reporters after launching the Under-12 Unity Football Seven Aside Datuk Soh Chin Aun Cup at Bandar Hilir here Saturday.
Also present were several football legends of the 80’s namely Datuk Shukor Salleh, Datuk Santokh Singh and Datuk N. Thanabalan.
Malaysia, now ranked 168th in the world and 35th among 46 Asian countries are now vying to qualify for the 2020 Qatar World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup.- Bernama
