The Malaysia Experiment - Getting to Know the Players

Who doesn't know Datuk Lee Chong Wei? He's our national hero and when he appears at his son's school, all the mommies line up to take photos with him. Heck, even I couldn't pass up the chance.

So what about our national football players? As for me, I only recall Khairul Azman Mohamed's heroics with Sabah, even earned us a public holiday back in 1996 and I remember spending the day playing badminton with dad! Another would be Mohd Faiz Subri who won the FIFA Puskás Award 2 years back with a stunning free kick. I was one of the many kiasu Malaysians that voted a few times every day by refreshing the voting page. Hahaha!

Now that I'm being tasked with the important job of managing Harimau Malaya, it's time to give it some study. Overall we're stronger in our defense and attacking midfield. Sad to say we're pretty weak on the strikers with both of them in their 30s. Seems like we have to find a tactic that places more emphasis on the attacking midfield and perhaps play just 1 striker up front.

Let's have a look at the star player of the team - Saddam El-Hafedz Shahri. I checked him out in real life. He's not contracted to Johor DT, but rather JDT III. Well, I'd take it anyways.

Another young player that's important to Harimau Malaya is Matthew Davies, just 21 years old. Why the 'ang moh' name is because he was born in Perth, Australia. He could represent Malaysia because according to FIFA rules, if a player has parents or grandparents that were born in that country, he's eligible to represent that country. Matt's mom is from Sabah, no wonder I felt the instant connection. ;)

Brendan Gan would make up the top 3 players on my team. Another player with Australian roots as he was born in Sydney. As you can see, he can play in several positions, which gives me some flexibility in my tactics. Surprisingly at 28 years old, he has only made 8 appearances for Malaysia. :/ He's currently not tied to any clubs and has actually played for quite a few clubs, including Sabah back in 2012.

And if you actually managed to read up till this part, it means that you're quite a football fan, and you love Malaysia (it needs to be a combination of both). I'll share a player for the future - Wan Kuzain. He's currently playing in USA with Swope Park Rangers and has yet to feature for any country just yet. I plan to quickly tie him down to Malaysia with an appearance as he's also eligible for USA! Oh, and a little prize of 0.5 Steem to the first person to give a shout 'Wan Kuzain' in the replies below.

I'll be going with my favorite tactic 4-2-3-1 Wide. At the back, I have my star GK - Shahri and Davies at RB. Mohd Shas and Insa (Spanish name because he's born in Spain) at CB with a strong backup option in Mohd Saad. I don't have a natural LB so I've resorted to Che Hashim. For my CMs I've pulled Brendan Gan away from his natural position and paired him up with Fazail. Slightly in front is my future star, Kuzain at the young age of 18! Bakri and Kunanlan will be my wingers. As I mentioned, I don't have a striker that stands out, something like Portugal in the last decade, so I'll just use Talaha.

I must say this team is pretty 'muhibbah'. We've got players from all 3 races playing in the first team, alongside some born in Australia, USA, and even Europe! Now my next assignment would be to scout around for more talents, hopefully, some strikers!