No work, no success! (The Malay Mail)

MALAYSIAN soccer seems to have no shortage of scapegoats for the slipping
national standards.
 Everyone expects miracles to happen overnight without wanting to do the
hard work.
 Our demanding soccer public and administrators of the sport - at
national and state levels - just do not have the patience.
 Even before the Olympic 2000 team kick a ball in the qualifying round
for Sydney, they have already been written off.
 You can say the Olympic squad used up millions of ringgit in training
and overseas exposure the past three years and competed in the World Youth
Cup tournament in Malaysia last year.
 That they have been groomed by an array of specialised coaches headed by
Tunisian Hatem Souissi.
 But before anyone gets impressed by all these facts and figures, look
further.
 Instead of just three years of training, the Olympic players should have
at least 10 years of experience at top level football under their belt.
 When selected three years ago, these players hardly had a strong
foundation - no thanks to the State FAs who paid no attention to
development work.
 When you consider Hatem having to call for selection trials, you know
must be drastically wrong with Malaysian football. (Out of the 3,000
players who came, he picked 35).
 The State FAs should have supplied him with a ready list of top youth
players if they have been doing their job. Wasn't there neglect in
development work?
 Englishman Mike Brown, who coached the Pahang in 1992, once asked: "Can
you name 10 players who are 12 years old and can make the World Youth Cup
squad?"
 No name came to mind.
 And Malaysia then were about to make a bid to host the World Youth Cup!
Brown's point?
 The World Youth Cup players should have been there even before the bid.
 Soccer for 12 years olds? Just treat them to a carnival competition two
weeks a year.
 None of the State FAs introduced any new talent other than those
shortlisted for the Olympics squad and later dropped.
 A total of 12 players in Premier One and 16 in Premier Two, registered
at the start of the season, were born on or before 1977.
 Out of 392 players registered in the first two seasons of the Premier
League, only 28 were below 21 years.
 Of these, six players from Premier One and seven from Premier Two were
with the Olympics squad as early as 1995. Another five had attended trials
or trained with the Olympics squad.
 Have these players not been spotted for the Olympic squad, they probably
would never been utilised by the State FAs.
 Several States like Kedah and Kuala Lumpur did have commendable youth
development programmes but they too have slowed down.
 The FA of Malaysia have to virtually force the State FAs to carry out
development programmes by introducing national leagues for Under-16 and
Under-18 players apart from the President's Cup.
 Then there is the touch-football programmes initiated by German Olger
Obermann for kids to get started.
 In five years' time, we should get quality players for our national
teams.
 Our present Olympic players cannot be compared with the likes of
England's Michael Owens, France's David Trezeguet and Thiery Henry,
Brazil's Adailton Martins and Alex.
 These shooting stars all started playing as 10 years olds and have come
through well supervised development programmes.
 Three years of training and several million ringgit are certainly not
the answer to soccer supremacy.
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