INTRODUCTION

The Malaysia national football team is the national team of Malaysia and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). It has never qualified for the World Cup finals, although the team did qualify to play in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. However, Malaysia did not take part after heeding a United States-led boycott of the Games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The most significant successes of the team has come in the regional AFC Suzuki Cup, which Malaysia won in 2010 for the first time in history. They beat Indonesia 4–2 on aggregate in the final to capture the country's first major international football title.
Malaysia had many top players since the creation of the Federation of Malaya, such as Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Ghani Minhat, who was remembered for his lethal skills as a striker and known throughout the land as ‘The King of Football’. Then came the likes of the legendary Mokhtar Dahari and James Wong, which led Malaysia into their golden age during the 1970s until the 1980s. In 1962, Malaysia recorded a 15–1 victory over the Philippines, which is currently the record for the highest win for the national team. In the current generation, Mohd Safee Mohd Sali and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha are considered by many Malaysians as the best strikers of this generation.
In the FIFA World Rankings, Malaysia's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in August 1993, at 75th. Currently, Malaysia is ranked in the 163rd position. Malaysia's main rival on the international stage are their geographical neighbours Indonesia as well as Singapore. Malaysia can be regarded as one of the most successful teams in Southeast Asia along with Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, having won the AFC Suzuki Cup 2010 and other small competitions while improving at the same time.
However, the Malaysian football team still has a very long way to go in order to improve their FIFA rankings as well as their performance on the international level. We will look at some ways where the Football Association of Malaysia can improve their performance on the pitch.

1.) Send Local Players Abroad

Lately, the Malaysian football team has made a lot of improvement in compete with other country in Asia. The manager, Dato’ K. Rajagopal has lead the national team by winning the Sea Games back in 2009 for over a decade. Within one year, the same squad of Harimau Malaya has made a history in Malaysian football by claiming the AFC Suzuki cup. This is one of the highest achievements in Malaysian football history. However, we can see that such achievements were like a dream and now, we are facing the bitter reality that the Malaysian football team is currently ranked at the 163rd position. It should be mentioned that the lowest position that the Malaysian football team was ever awarded by FIFA was the 170th position back in 2008.
One of the reasons why the Malaysian football team has fallen way behind in the rankings and do not perform well at the international level is because other countries are more exposed to international football than we are. We can see in neighbouring countries like Singapore and Thailand that they are more exposed to the international scene in terms of imported players and sending their local players to play abroad. For example, back when Thaksin Shinawatra, the ex-prime minister of Thailand, was the owner of Manchester City Football Club, he would send many young and gifted Thais to the club in order for them to flourish their football skills. Although the Football Association of Malaysia does send a few local footballers to international clubs, it is not enough.
Playing competitive soccer or being offered a professional contract by a European club should be the aspiration of each Malaysian footballer. They would need to infuse ambition to develop a career and travel overseas for further opportunities to play for any country in Europe. Whether in a known league or a less known league, the players should be enterprising enough to try. It would be quite unfortunate if they are satisfied to play and enjoy the local leagues. Local players need to be aware that, with the level of a local league, they will not develop in terms of technique, tactics, and lifestyle of a professional footballer. For a start, the local players could try their luck in the leagues around Asia; however, if an opportunity arises to play in Europe, the players must grab it with both hands. Playing in a European league requires pace and skills. Football being a skill-based sport, is all about technique, decision making and creative play. It has an aerobic foundation but is mainly a continuous, multi-directional, multi-pace and an energetic sport. These are a few aspects in which Malaysian football is certainly deficient in. Skills in football are really essential to ensure an interesting and competitive game of football. The only way to compete against the European teams is by emulating their skills.
Players in Malaysia don’t have physical strength like Europeans, because of their small size but could compete skill-wise just like the South American players, who compete against the Europeans using their skills, not strength. Playing abroad might be the best way for local players to develop their skills. With experienced and talented players increasing in the European squads, the chances for Malaysian players to get into the team’s starting 11 is quite competitive. Competition in football is of significant importance to mould a good footballer. Competition allows players involved to perform to their best ability. With the amount of competition the players are likely to face in the European Leagues, they will take the correct measures to cement their spot in the starting 11. Thus, competition plays an essential role in the players’ development. Currently in Malaysia, the footballers are only playing football mechanically; nothing more than that. They don’t take the initiative to improve their style of playing. Football in Europe is known for its trickery and fast flowing attacking style of play and is considered a reflection of the European countries. For example, Spanish football, is entertaining, with pace and the balance of attack and defense is clearly visible. Malaysian players should adapt to that kind of football to improve the country’s football quality.

2.) More Imported Players

Sometimes we do not always get what we want. In this context, the Football Association of Malaysia does not always get to send our local gifted footballers abroad because of many reasons. Therefore, how should we solve this problem? I am of the opinion that we should bring in more notable imported players. We should import more players so that those who do not have the chance to play or train at prestigious international clubs, can play football at a seemingly ‘european level’ locally at a frequent basis. Case in point, Darul Takzim Football Club. Darul Takzim FC, which was previously named Johor FC, was in line with the big changes at the southern club. The side brought in a number of important additions to the side, including Harimau Malaya talisman Safee Sali on loan, Safiq Rahim from Selangor, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha from Kelantan and the two players who made the main headlines; Simone Del Nero and Dani Guiza. It has become a trend in the smaller and less popular leagues to bring in past stars to increase the popularity of the sport and the quality of the league as well. It started with the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry going to the United States, players like Alessandro Nesta and Alessandro Del Piero also left the big leagues for the States and for Australia respectively. While Del Nero has never been a player like those named above, Dani Guiza can be argued to be a talented player. He did win the Spanish Primera Liga’s top goal scorer award, the Pichichi, back in 2008. Winners of this much coveted award included Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Forlan, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo and Roy Makaay.
There are several causes of having imported football players playing in the Malaysian football league. By bringing these imported players into the league, the Football Association of Malaysia has given a lot of commitment to the footballers. The Football Association of Malaysia has spent a lot of money to give full facilities for them to improve their skills in football. By bringing them to the country, the local players can improve their skills by playing with them on a frequent basis.
In other perspective, there are several advantages when the Football Association of Malaysia hires imported footballers to play in the Malaysian football league. The first advantage that we can see in bringing them into the Malaysian football league is that many Malaysian footballers can gain more experience from these imported footballers. Plus, the imported footballers have their own quality in football that can prove to be invaluable for the current as well as the future generation. In addition, Dato’ K. Rajagopal had stated back in 2011 that the numbers of Malaysian fans have increased because the quality of the Malaysian league has improved in many ways due to the import of quality players.

3.) Improved Youth System

A youth system is a sporting terminology used to refer to a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show enough promise, and to fill up squads numbers in some teams with small budgets. In contrast to most sports in the United States where the high school and collegiate system is responsible for developing young sports people, most football clubs, especially in Europe and Latin America, take responsibility for developing their own players of the future. However in Malaysia, the only familiar institution of the development of young football players is the Bukit Jalil Sports School. Although relatively young, being only 17 years old, this institution has produced a number of promising football players. Their alumni includes Nazmi Faiz, who once played at SC Beira Mar in Portugal, and Wan Zack Haikal who is currently employed by Ryukyu FC in Japan. Although this can be seen as a positive sign for the development of young football players in Malaysia, we can not deem it as an absolute success as the numbers who enjoy great fortunes in their football career after graduating from this institution is not really high.
The Bukit Jalil Sports School accepts qualified and gifted students after they sit for their UPSR, which is around 13 years of age. Most international football academies started accepting students at much younger ages. For example, the La Masia Football Academy of Barcelona starts accepting gifted students at around 7 years old. Lionel Messi, the Argentine football player who needs no introductions, was accepted into the academy at the age of 11. As soon as he started playing for the senior Barcelona team, the rest was history.
In order to determine how we could improve our youth system, we need to look at the youth system of La Masia. Barcelona invest in their future consistently with a "where's the next one?" mentality. Their team of scouts work tirelessly to obtain the best of the world's young talent. And presumably having Barcelona on your name badge, has its benefits. So once they've scouted the players and offered them the chance to join La Masia, what happens next? After arriving at the 18th Century country house, they are nurtured, worked and drilled, focusing heavily on technical skill whilst adhering to the rule of 'total football', derived from former manager Johan Cruyff's 'tiki-taka' philosophy. This philosophy is credited as a key component in Barcelona's success of recent years. From an early age, the winning formula of 'total football', responsibility and leadership is drilled into the minds and bodies of Europe's youngest elite. Could we say the same about the Bukit Jalil Sports School? Although it may be argued that comparing this institution to one as prestigious as La Masia as ludicrous, we cannot push aside the fact that although hese two institutions provide world class facilities to its students, its La Masia which has been producing world champions.

CONCLUSION
There is nothing more exciting than the prospect of seeing a Malaysian player reach the big leagues, or a Malaysian national side competing against the likes of Japan and South Korea. This will only happen if the Malaysian football team improves in terms of their performance.
However, there are other reasons why our football team does not perform well. Controversies, scandals and squabbling are not good for any team. The players will get distracted and the morale of the whole team is affected. The Football Association of Malaysia is always the center of controversy whenever there is a football related issue in the country. For example, in 2012, their decision to suspend Kelantan chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa and the statement saying Malaysia’s ranking aren’t that important is not making things any better. Majority of the public felt that Tan Sri Anuar Musa’s statements are somewhat not far from the truth and the Football Association of Malaysia as a governing body should be open to opinions. Many of them think that the reason the issue was addressed in such a manner was to give them a wake-up call.Malaysia's ranking may not reflect the the true strength of the national team, but there are certain areas which needs to be addressed, as discussed in previous pages, if we are to revive our glory days of yesteryears when Malaysia stood head-to-head with Asia's current powerhouses, South Korea and Japan.
There are many young promising talents coming through the ranks and if nurtured in the right manner, we will map our success on football's success stories.But first, there are some areas in our football administration which requires servicing, and the three main points argued earlier are some of the factors which can be taken into consideration to improve the standard of Malaysian football.It’s going to be a long season, and a long way ahead for Malaysian football. However, as Malaysians we all want an improved performance at the international as well as league levels, and that’s our hope, and to that hope we will hold on.