The last few years have been a boon for Malaysian fans of the English Premier League with a number of clubs making high-profile visits to the country.

The likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have targeted the country for its growing economy and supporter base with a passionate interest in their club.

The peak may well have come in 2011 when Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool arrived within a few days of each other ensuing the trains out to Bukit Jalil Stadium were full late into the evenings as the faithful trooped out for the chance to spot their heroes at training sessions or the games themselves.

The 2015 season is due to be another year to remember with Liverpool to return and Tottenham Hotspur to make its first visit since 1979.

Tottenham was especially excited to be making the visit, saying the game against a Malaysia XI “will present an opportunity for the club to further engage with its well-established fanbase in the region through a number of activities including meet and greet sessions with current and former players.”

While other clubs have seen Southeast Asia as a major opportunity, Tottenham has prepared to focus on other areas such as China and the US. So, the game in Kuala Lumpur will be seen as an opportunity to both connect with supporters there and, in business-school speak, build the brand.

But while sponsors, clubs and organizers gush about the presence of Tottenham and Liverpool, others are less happy.

In 2007 the Football Association of Malaysia arranged for Manchester United to play a high profile friendly during the English league’s close season, a move it no doubt thought would be popular among local fans. Unfortunately, the FAM seemed to have overlooked the fact it was hosting the AFC Asian Cup, only the second-largest football tournament in the world.

Despite opposition from the Asian Football Confederation, the FAM, supported by the government seeking a short term popularity boost, stuck to its guns.

With the national team preparing for its biggest event in years the controversy raged with many Malaysian fans angered at the FAM’s prioritizing of a meaningless friendly over serious competition.

In the end and after some pressure from FIFA Manchester United’s visit was cancelled.

This year there are no such distractions but with much soul searching within the game over a perceived lack of direction in the corridors of power the news the Premier League pair are on their way is not being well received in all quarters with one fan group, the Ultras Malaya, calling for supporters to boycott the game and launching the #SayNoToCircusGame campaign.

A poor showing at the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Football Federation Championships at the end of last season coupled with a failure to make progress in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers or the World Cup Qualifiers has angered fans especially at a time when new money has poured into the domestic game allowing clubs like Johor Darul Takzim and Pahang to reach new levels domestically and in the AFC Cup.

Alfadli Awaludin is one of the prime movers behind Ultras Malaya, a group of supporters from different clubs who came together to ratchet up the atmosphere at Malaysia games and he is definitely not impressed with Tottenham or Liverpool coming to town.

“The game does not bring any benefit to local football,” says Alfadli. “It does not benefit us in terms of FIFA ranking, besides it will only be of advantage to a few individuals who are using our national team to gain profit for themselves.

“The game will tarnish our national pride as it brings down the level of a national team to club level.”

While Malaysia may have lost to Thailand in the final of last year’s AFF Cup Final, their supporters won many plaudits not just for their color and their passion on the terraces, but the respect they afforded the Thais when they lifted the trophy.

Unlike many fans around the world following a loss in a final the Ultras Malaya stayed behind after the final whistle to show their support to their players as well as honoring the victors.

As a group dedicated to promoting fair play in football, they take exception to what they see as meaningless friendlies.

“A circus is an exhibition performance being held by the circus operator to gain profit, by using animals/clowns to put on a show to make the paying crowd happy, without any benefit to the animals/clowns who had put up the show,” explained Alfadli.

“Therefore an exhibition football match without any benefit to the team and is solely money-oriented is a circus game.”

It remains to be seen how effective the boycott will be. You are never far from a replica Liverpool shirt on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and there is an official retail outlet in Bukit Bintang offering the keen Kopite all the gear he can afford.

If you take away the home support, especially the vociferous home support, you will end up with a stadium cheering for the foreign team and apathy towards the home side.

The moneyed Premier League players may not notice and nor will the thousands from across Malaysia and no doubt neighboring Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia but followers of local club sides will and what will that image do for the perception of the local league?

Football associations are charged with developing football within their national borders.

Liverpool and Tottenham will come to Malaysia for their own benefit and of course they are perfectly within their right to cash in where they think they can.

But as Malaysia contemplates the road to the World Cup in 2018 the question for Alfadli and other fans remaings does their game benefit?

The post Commentary: Malaysian Fan Group Says No to EPL Friendlies appeared first on The Jakarta Globe.

Assuming this weekend’s Indonesian Football Association elections go smoothly and assuming the stalled domestic league season can get back on track at the end of the month, then perhaps the powers that be can turn their attention to the small matter of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in June.

The draw for the Asian qualifying rounds were made on Tuesday and perhaps the only solace Indonesia can take in the journey is times are quite short. But make no mistake: sharing Group F with Thailand, Vietnam, Iraq and Taiwan is no walk in the park for a national team that has no coach.

The Merah Putih open their campaign with a trip to Taiwan to take on Chinese Taipei on June 11, the only nation in the group ranked lower than Indonesian in the FIFA rankings. It reached the group stage of the qualifiers by defeating Brunei 2-0 in Bandar Seri Begawan in the first round after losing the first leg on home soil 1-0. 

That triumph was its first win since defeating The Philippines 2-1 in the Peace Cup in Manila, Philippines, in 2013; a run of eight games that produced just five goals and seven defeats.

With a number of its players plying their trade in mainland China, the bulk of Taiwan’s squad will be drawn from local clubs such as National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport Team, Taiwan Power and National Sports Training Center Football Team; hardly regional powers likely to cause sleepless nights to Boaz Solossa and company.

While it won’t do to underestimate the Taiwanese, Indonesia knows that the first game offers its only realistic hope of picking up anything from its travels beyond air miles and fridge magnets.

Five days later and Iraq will return to the scene of its greatest triumph in recent years. Back in 2007 Indonesians got behind Younis Mahmoud and his teammates as they took on Saudi Arabia for the right to be crowned AFC Asian Cup winner at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in South Jakarta. It was an emotional night for the Iraqis, who had seen their country torn apart by an invasion and secular terrorism, but they won 1-0 and everyone in the stadium partied with them.

The atmosphere will be less friendly when they take to the field against Indonesia on June 16. But this is an Iraq side that defeated its bitterest foe Iran back in January at the AFC Asian Cup in Australia, triumphing on penalties after twice seeing its lead in extra time pegged back by a determined Iranian side. And it has the upper hand in the head-to-head, defeating Indonesia six times in recent nine meetings.

September sees Indonesia return to Vietnam. Drawn in the same group for the 2014 Association of Southeast Asian Nations Football Federation Championship, the record books show Indonesia earn a credible 2-2 draw against the host. Those who witnessed the game however have a different story to tell, the Vietnamese by far the better side over the 90 minutes and even then coach Alfred Riedl admitting they were fortunate to earn a point.

On Oct. 8, Indonesia plays host to AFF Championship winner Thailand. It will be the first meeting between the two sides since an AFF Championship semifinal in 2010 when Indonesia won 2-1, but the Thais triumphed on away goals and has since gone from strength to strength, runner-up in 2012 and winner last year. 

Coach Kiatisuk Senamuang, who has scored the most goals and played the most games for his country, has a wealth of talent to draw upon including Teerasil Dangda, Charyl Chappuis and Chanathip Songkrasin; in fact so deep is the pool, he is often forced to rotate players, a luxury his Indonesian counterpart can only dream about.

It is difficult to look beyond Thailand and Iraq qualifying from the group. Both have too much savvy and experience for the rest while Vietnam will be an outside tip. The good news is that even if finishing in the top two and passing on to the third round of the World Cup Qualifiers is beyond Indonesia, the remaining clubs have the chance to battle on for the AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2019.

The country that finishes third can go on to the Asian Cup while the fourth placed team has a chance of challenging for a spot in the tournament, depending on results in other groups. For once, Arsene Wenger’s mocked comment about finishing fourth being as good as a trophy has some meaning as Indonesia’s chances of doing better look pretty slim.

The post Indonesia Has Little To Gain in Qualifiers appeared first on The Jakarta Globe.

The last few seasons have been pretty quiet by Sriwijaya Palembang’s high standards. A two-time Indonesia champion and three-time Cup winner, with two Inter Island Cups and one Community Shield sitting proudly in the club’s trophy cabinet, the Sumatran side has added nothing since it won the Indonesian Super League and Inter Island Cup in 2012.

A barren spell, indeed, but the mood is optimistic in South Sumatra after a preseason that saw Benny Dollo come in as coach and engage in a recruitment policy that promises goals, goals, goals.

Leading the line is Croatian striker Goran Ljubojevic. Signed from Singapore side Balestier Khalsa, the 31-year-old spurned the opportunity to play in the AFC Cup with the Singapore Cup winner for a move to Indonesia following a successful first season in Southeast Asia and marked his debut with a goal against Pelita Bandung Raya.

Ljubojevic is an old-school center-forward, even wearing the number nine shirt. Tall and powerfully built, he is as comfortable with the ball on the ground as he is with it in the air as he showed against Pelita. On one occasion, receiving the ball just outside the area, he made space for himself and unleashed a 20-meter drive that beat the dive of Latvian keeper Deniss Romanovs, only to crash off the upright.

Right on halftime he showed the aerial side of his game after fine work on the right by another of Sriwijaya’s new signings, Patrich Wanggai. His cross into the danger area was asking for someone to connect with, and Ljubojevic was only to happy to oblige, powering home a header from close range.

Wanggai and another new signing, Titus Bonai, announced themselves on the football stage back in 2011 when they starred in Indonesia’s SEA Games campaign that saw them reach the final only to lose on penalties to Malaysia on home soil. But since those heady days the pair have not pushed on as many would have liked. Bonai was offered trials in Thailand with BEC Tero but was not signed, while Wanggai had a season with T Team in Malaysia but was happy to return home when Benny gave him the opportunity.

Both players are currently in the wilderness when it comes to the national team, and even though it was Dollo who stepped in to take temporary charge for a couple of friendlies against Myanmar and Cameroon recently, he showed the pair no favors by not calling them up.

He did, however, use Ferdinand Sinaga. The striker won the ISL last season with Persib Bandung but somewhat surprisingly opted to sign for Sriwijaya rather than stay with the champion.

Despite a prolific season with Persib — he scored 11 goals in 23 appearances — he was surprisingly overlooked by former national team coach Alfred Riedl for the Asean Football Championships in Hanoi last November.

With such an array of attacking options at his disposal, Benny will be looking to the likes of Raphael Maitimo and the 24-year-old Mali international Morimakan Koita to provide the ammunition as well as offering vital cover for the defense. Maitimo brings a fine pedigree to the team, having learned to play the game alongside the likes of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben in his native Netherlands, and his discipline and ability to get the ball down and slow the pace will act as a balance to the livewire forward players.

It takes time for new players to gel but there were signs against PBR of the threat they pose. The game ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw, but Sriwijaya’s supporters will be purring at the prospect of seeing a new, exciting team come together over the coming months.

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