Once a Tiger

The greatest era of Malaysian Football was undoubtedly during the late 70s where we qualified for the 1980 Olympics. I am not familiar the those names who graced the nation then but you can’t go wrong with Mokhtar Dahari and Arumugam. Those days, when we are the tiger, the Japanese would be a cat and the Viets might be a kuci-rat.

The roar is the 80's

Come the era of the 90s which I remembered most vividly as I was introduced to football by my brother back in 1991, the Semi-Pro league was bustling with stars. When Matlan Marjan scored a couple against the mighty Manchester United during their post season friendly tour, though the Malaysian selection lost 2-4, I was proud and there were hope for local football. We still could not qualify for Asia Cup or the Olympics not to mention the World Cup, but getting the gold medal in the 1989 SEA games at least assured us of respect in this region. We can give excuse that we’re not up there physically against the Iranians or Arabs. Otherwise we can also appear puzzled that we cannot match the diet of Koreans and Japanese which help increased their average over the past 20 years. Our nasi lemak and bak kut teh have not been proven for building muscles.

The 90's -skinner, but still fearsome

Nearly all the top stars were wiped out like a nuclear holocaust due the the major corruption breakthrough in the Semi-Pro league by late 90s. Heading into the new era of 2000, new players came into ranks. The result? ZERO major tournaments qualified; ZERO regional cups won. Now the tiger has been tamed, not just by the Arabs or east Asians, but even became a punching bag for the likes of Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The last time we qualified for Asia Cup was back in 1980 This year we’re in cause we’re one of the co-host. First round results are in : Versus China we kena whack 1-5. Versus Uzbekistan we kena whack 0-5. Last match vs. Iran. Save me from the final score. Gone is the tiger, we're only a kitten now.

Malaysia football in this era.