Looking at the qualifiers for the World Cup, I cannot help but notice North Korea among the soccer elite. For a country isolated by the international community, qualifying for the World Cup is a great achievement. With obviously no foreign help, they have competed with the best of Asia and qualified ahead of previously experienced teams like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Although most North Koreans may never get to see their team play, it speaks volumes for a nation bent on proving that it can survive despite political castration.
Malaysia, a country with a wealth of natural resource, has nothing much to show in their national football team. What happened since Malaysia defeated the United States 3 – 0 in the 1972 Olympics? We have since slid into football oblivion. With comfortable salaries from the local professional league, the desire to excel for the country no longer exists. The discipline needed to ensure international success is sorely absent.
In this respect, even North Korea surpasses us in talent, discipline and attitude. If it was not for a Stalinist regime in the way, things would have been far greater for a unified Korea. As for Malaysia, we are stuck in the doldrums, even losing to Vietnam.
Can we ever see Malaysia in the World Cup? Perhaps we need to emulate a thing or two from the North Koreans.
The Malaysian team can only qualify if there is a quota. Cannot qualify on competitiveness since that notion is lost on a large proportion of the population.So the only way the Malaysian team can get into the World cup finals is to host it.
Malaysia Boleh!
something to sigh about for a while..