Publication : MM
Date : 06/05/1993
Headline : There's no room for Nasir
THERE is only one way to view national coach Ken Worden's surprise
decision to recall Nasir Yusof for the Sea Games - retrogressive.
No doubt Nasir, 33, can still contribute to the national team in the
short term but we need is a concrete plan for the future.
And the building blocks for a Malaysia of the future are the up-and-
coming youngsters.
Somehow, after acknowledging the fact, soccer authorities go back to
recalling the old guard.
Nasir's experience will give Worden some option in line-up and strategy
but in the search for immediate results, the youngsters will be
sacrificed.
Strangely, Worden dismissed Nasir after trying him out in the pre-Asian
Cup last year in Singapore and noew he wants to bring him back.
Players cannot be dismissed and recalled at the whims of coaches.
There has to be firm action.
Malaysia have done well in the last 15 months with Worden in charge and
their performance in the preWorld Cup tournament must be praised.
But just when one is beginning to believe there is hope yet for
Malaysian soccer, we step back into history.
Sure our younger players lack experience but they certainly are not
going to gain any by warming the bench or by being dropped.
Worden has said for Malaysia to improve, we have to play the giants of
Asia time and again.
But if we keep bringing back the veterans each time we need to stabilise
the team, we are not going to help our game.
Disbanded
Of course, we need experienced players to guide the youngsters. For that
we have the likes of Ahmad Yusof, Azizol Abu Haniffah, Zainal Abidin
Hassan, K. Gunalan, A. Jayakanthan and Dollah Salleh.
The youngsters, especially those from the disbanded Barcelona Olympic
squad like Azman Adnan, Mubin Mokhtar, Malek Abdul Rahman and Salahuddin
Che Ros, are already making their mark.
All they needed was the opportunity to prove themselves.
While most of the other countries are depending on their younger players
to carry the challenge over a longer period, we are just looking for
short-term success.
Just look at the Saudi team. The team's average age is 23 and they are
doing well.
Of course, Worden will say that they are technically better than our
youth players.
Perhaps, it's time we paid more emphasis on developing our players to
have better technical abilities.
After all, it has been acknowledged that our youth development
programmes are bearing fruits. Let's have some faith in it.
Otherwise, time and again, we will be looking for short term success,
which is not even guaranteed.
