With Malaysia languishing in their worst-ever position of 164th in the FIFA soccer rankings, the country is searching far and wide for new talent to halt the slide, but it refuses to copy the methods used by regional rivals Indonesian and Singapore.
Former Australia international Scott Ollerenshaw, now an agent based in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah, said Malaysia were reaching out to players with a local “connection” in Switzerland, England and Australia to come to Southeast Asia and try their luck.
“We are not trying to get their citizenship like what Indonesia and Singapore had done before,” Ollerenshaw told Malaysian newspaper the Star, taking a shot at local rivals who used residency rules to recruit foreign players for the national team.
“We need to get players with Malaysian roots to represent the country,” he said. “I don’t agree in giving foreign players in the M-League like [Brazilian] Paulo Rangel and [Nigerian] Dickson Nwakaeme citizenships to play for Malaysia ... for me, it’s cheating.”
Last week, Australia-born Matthew Davies received a Malaysian passport, courtesy of his Sabahan mother, with the 20-year-old Pahang defender now in Malaysia’s preliminary squad for the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore in June.
Ollerenshaw is also credited with helping to bring Brendan Gan from Australia and Junior Eldstal from England to play in the country after discovering their ties to Malaysia, who have never qualified for a World Cup and only once won the Southeast Asian championships.
Last week, national team coach Dollah Salleh said the ranking was not a fair reflection ahead yesterday’s qualifying draw for the World Cup and Asian Cup, which has Malaysia among the bottom seeds.
“If people know and look at the real situation, they will see the problems I am facing,” he told local media.
“For example, the Oman friendly is the only ‘A’ international match we had this year. Even for that game, we had very little time to prepare,” Salleh said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two