PETALING JAYA (22 Dec 2014) – They came close, real close to winning their second ASEAN crown but at the end of the day, the last 20 minutes would be telling on a team, which had relied on a posse of older gentlemen as against the younger Thais.
It was really a gamble for Malaysian coach Dollah Salleh where he revealed afterwards that the decision to pick the older players was due more to time constraint than anything else.
“We had no choice. I don’t have the time to pick the players that I really want for this championship,” said Dollah. “I had to pick players who can do the job within the time constraint which means taking the older lads.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The boys did a marvellos job to reach the final when no one gave them a thought. They fought bravely and they gave everything.
“But fitness was always going to be an issue and it showed. We were punished in Bangkok and it was the same in Kuala Lumpur. The boys gave their all but at the end of the day, the game is more than 70 minutes.”
The Malaysians were not expected to make past even the group stage but their win over Singapore was pivotal while against Vietnam in the semi-finals, they rode their luck in the crucial second leg to win a place in the finals.
But with the short preparation time to add with the long season, fitness was always going to be an issue at the international stage.
“In total, I only had one month. But I believe that if I had more time, the team would be better,” added Dollah.
“We need younger players for sure. And for the World Cup qualifiers, we will have to do just that. But we need some of the older players alongside the younger ones.
“I’m trying to persuade Shukor (Adan) to stay but it seems that he had already made up his mind to stop playing international football. We will see.”
