The Malaysia Experiment - World Cup Aspirations?

"A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step." - Laozi

It's been an interesting 3-year journey so far and I'm really excited as we embark on a new phase. I've never been on a qualifying campaign for FIFA World Cup and to be honest, I know the chances are slim, but heck we were in the semifinal of Asian Nations Cup. Technically that's the 4 best teams in Asia no? :p

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As mentioned in the previous entry, we have to maneuver around countries such as Iraq(89th) and Lebanon (125th). Group F isn't exactly the toughest group on paper but I'll make sure we don't rest our laurels.

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So first up, we welcome Iraq to Bukit Jalil Stadium. We had to cancel our trip to South Korea but we'll still be flying to Japan a few days later to face the Blue Samurai again! I honestly haven't really done my homework on Iraq but I'm well aware of a few of their players that's pretty good. Humam Tariq (AMC) and Dhurgham Ismail are young but upcoming football stars. Ali Adnan is definitely the one play we'd need to keep an eye on the whole game. He's already making a name for himself in Europe, playing for Udinese.

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Since we were playing at home, I've decided to play a more attacking formation - 4-2-3-1 Wide with an attacking midfielder in the center. Hafiz Azman (18 years old) was actually playing the shadow striker role. I think he was gradually marking his mark on the game when Mohammed Gassid Ajeel (MC) decided to slide in a hard tackle and actually broke his ribs in the process! I was absolutely livid! The referee just played advantage and didn't even book him! The only comfort was that we kept a clean sheet by the time the referee blew for halftime.

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I encouraged the players and reminded them to do it for the 63,078 fans that turned up today. I also adjusted our formation by bringing in Gonzalo Gnanalingam (DM) to tighten our defense as they've been threatening our goal. Our breakthrough happened in the 51st minute, totally out of my expectation. It started with a freekick and Gnanalingam passed it out wide to Luqman Hussain (AML). They played a one-two which freed Hussain down the wing and he sent in a cross to an unmarked Muhaimin Jamaludin. He headed it in past the helpless Ciawar Almosawe (GK). We were up 1-0 and leading the group favorites! Now we just have to keep them out and secure a famous win.

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They kept bombarding our penalty box and Adnan played his role down the left. It was a pity their strikers didn't bring their shooting boots, or else it would have been a different story altogether. They brought on substitutes for both strikers in the 61st and 67th minute but they didn't have enough time to make a difference. I left it late to make my substitutions as I didn't want to rock the boat. Azhar Ishak (DMC) came in on the 82nd minute as I stationed another player in front of the back four.

Finally, the referee blew the whistle and the stadium erupted! What a way to start our campaign with a win against the strong favorites! Shakir Roslan was the man of the match (7.8) as he was like a rock in our defense, making 4 key tackles.

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What a joy to behold. I know we're sitting in 3rd, but we have a game in hand on our noisy neighbors - Singapore (146th). Now, I'll try to take my mind off with a trip to Japan.

If you enjoyed this entry, do check out my previous posts
from where it all started, right up to now.