Soccer (Football)
7 Greatest Moments for the Malaysian Football Team
Celebrating some of the best moments scored by our plucky football team
Malaysia is a footballing mad country, and few would disagree. People shuffle off to sports bars, ‘mamaks’ and the comfort of their couches on weekends just to catch the latest EPL and European matches. In that same breath, these same football crazy fans would love to have a national football team they can be proud of. Malaysia has not always impressed in the international stage, but there have been some wonderful, celebration-worthy moments. We’ve listed 7 below.
1. Producing Mokhtar Dahari
To this day, Malaysia has yet to produce a better player than him. SuperMokh, as he is affectionately known, was a scourge for opposition defenders and as legends have it, he struck fear in the hearts of the South Koreans whenever we faced them. From out-of-the-box screamers to predatory finishes, Mokhtar was the complete striker. His life and success has been the subject of musicals and documentaries.
2. Qualifying and playing in the 1972 Munich Olympics
While the 1980 Olympics campaign is the one that lives on in the memories of veteran football fans, many younger fans may not realise that Malaysia also qualified for the 1972 Olympics. They beat countries such as South Korea and Japan (both teams were far from the Asian juggernauts they are today) to get themselves to Munich. They managed a 3-0 victory against the United States before succumbing to both West Germany and Morocco.
3. Qualifying for the 1980 Moscow Olympics with that goal
The campaign that inspired the hugely successful 2016 film Ola Bola, Malaysia’s impressive last-gasp 2-1 win against South Korea (James Wong netting the decisive goal), was football at its highest form of drama and it continues to be remembered fondly by all those who witnessed it first-hand. It’s arguably the moment that defined what has been Malaysia’s most successful generation of footballers. Malaysia would eventually boycott the Olympics due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan but the memories of that South Korea match has never been soured.
4. Scoring two goals against a superior England side in 1991
There was a time when England was a proper footballing superpower. The team that had narrowly missed a place in the 1990 World Cup final, losing on penalties to West Germany, came to town to play Malaysia in a friendly a year later. England fielded a relatively strong team that night, with Gary Lineker, Stuart Pearce and David Platt all starting. Despite the odds stacked against them, Malaysia gave a respectable performance, even scoring two smart and neat finishes from Sabah striker Matlan Marjan and spurning a few other good opportunities.
5. Outplaying Saudi Arabia in a World Cup Qualifier in 1993
Mubin Mokhtar’s 34th minute free kick had given Malaysia the lead against the much fancied Saudis. The team were irrepressible in the second half, creating far more chances than their supposedly superior opponents, with Selangor striker Azman Adnan culpable for a few misses. But tragedy struck in the 88th minute when the Saudis were awarded a penalty for what appeared to be a dive by a Saudi player. The kick was dispatched and victory was snatched painfully from Malaysia. At the conclusion of the first round of matches, Malaysia sat pretty at second spot in a group that also contained Kuwait before falling apart in the second round of matches. Many have wondered what might’ve been had that penalty not been awarded that day.
6. Winning all those Merdeka tournaments
Never mind that the tournament sputtered terribly in its final years, showcasing mediocre participants; the ones in the 70s and 80s did showcase good teams. South Korea were consistent participants, so were Japan and some Middle East nations. Despite that, Malaysia has won the tournament a record breaking nine times while coming as runners-up on eight occasions. A very decent haul considering the opponents they had to beat to win them.
7. Champions of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup
This one came almost out of nowhere. Malaysian soccer had been in the doldrums for a while with little to get the fans excited. The 2010 Suzuki Cup campaign was like a shot in the arm for Malaysian soccer, and arguably the nation, as every street corner was abuzz with chatter about the performance of the Malaysian football team. Malaysia recovered from a morale-sapping 5-1 defeat to host Indonesia earlier in the tournament to beat them over two legs in the final with a 4-2 aggregate score. It was Malaysia’s first AFF title.
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