Malaysian football coach Datuk K. Rajagopal is facing the rap for saying foreign strikers are denying Malaysians the chance to move up the pecking order. The question is: Is he right?

WHILE all the hoopla in the country is about the imminent elections now that Parliament has been dissolved, I cry for the Hoops.

After the 3-2 defeat by Fulham last week, Queens Park Rangers look certain for the drop from the Premiership.

And coach Harry Redknapp felt his players – especially his defenders – were hopeless. That, despite their big, fat salaries.

He should know. After all, he IS the coach.

Which brings me to the hulabaloo here when national coach Datuk K. Rajagopal said his strikers were not up to mark.

They were not on the mark either.

He, too, should know. He is the coach.

So why is he suddenly the bad guy who has tarred the image of the Malaysian football league?

All he said was that our strikers are not getting the kind of chances they should get because the foreigners have taken up all the slots up front.

He may be right or he may be wrong. But he certainly was not out of line. Not enough to be charged under that controversial Article 88 of the FAM constitution, which says no one but the president and the general secretary can speak to the media about policies.

To anyone who listened, he was not talking policy. He was bemoaning the dearth of strikers.

And the fault for that may, in fact, lie with his fellow coaches.

It’s the job of the coach to “marry” the foreigners who play here to locals so the locals can learn, says a man who should know what he is talking about.

Moroccan and former World Cupper Merzagua Abderazzak played in Malaysia – for Penang – in 1996 to 1998 and won himself the undying adulation of the state’s football fans.

“Look at Spain,” he says.

“How did they get to be that good and win the European Championship twice and the World Cup as well in a space of four years? Well, it’s because their club bought the best from around the world. From Brazil, from Argentina, from anywhere around the world. The two players acknowledged as the best in the world – Argentine Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo – now play there.

“The local players are motivated to match the brilliance of the top players and they work hard to get to the same level,” he says.

That, then, is a possible answer. Moti­vation.

Do Malaysian players get motivated to match the skills of the foreigners plying their skills? Or are they just happy to stay in the shadows and play a supporting role. Is it our culture that’s at fault?

Merzagua is back now as the state coach and although I haven’t seen it, I am told the grandstand of Penang’s City Stadium are packed and even the terraces are comfortably occupied when Penang play.

The fans don’t come there to watch the football. It isn’t all that great.

They come there for Merzagua.

This, at a time when even the Super League teams are struggling to pack in the fans. And Penang play in the FAM Cup.

That’s third-tier stuff, after the Super League and Premier League.

Merzagua, you see, is a man who motivates and teaches.

And that’s why Penang are now top of the table in the FAM Cup with six wins in six matches.

Take the case of G. Shanmugam. He was a Penang striker and then for Kedah and Perlis as well in the late 1990s.

He started out as a player who lacked confidence and was erratic in front of goal.

“He was raw and inexperienced when I first got here in 1996. Shan would even seem lost when presented with scoring opportunities,” says the Moroccan.

But Merzagua took him under his wings and made him his understudy.

“I talked to him, trained with him and even shared a room with him so we could talk about how he could improve his skills as a striker,” he says.

A year later, Shanmugam was hot stuff, being sought by the top state teams. And in 1998, Penang won the league title.

Shanmugam is still around, much much older but very much a valued player for NTFA in Penang.

So, how do we get strikers of quality?

Another famous goalscorer says he has an answer. Striker coaches.

“We have goalkeeper coaches and coaches for other positions. So why not a coach for strikers?” said Ian Rush, a Liverpool legend.

Many big clubs do have coaches for every position. Of course, Rush offered himself for the role of striker coach in Malaysia.

Sadly, there was no rush to take up Rush’s proposition. That’s a pity. We would have known if such a plan could work in Malaysia.

> Oh dear, Article 88 has bitten again, with the Tunku Mahkota of Johor, who made his state team the most exciting one this season, has quit as state FA president. I don’t know about foreigners – but Article 88 certainly doesn’t help Malaysian football

• Doc held for posing as cop to extort businessman
• If you want to go far work early and hard on personal branding
• AirAsia X offers free tickets to any destination for initial public offering to retail investors
• Cyclone takes the heat for hot weather
• Allianz aims for RM150mil in new premiums
• Couple upset over baby’s death
• Malaysia's I-Bhd and Thailand's CPN in mall joint venture with GDV of RM580mil
• From tomorrow, city cabbies can pick up passengers from KLIA
• Najib wants Chinese in Cabinet
• Todd was under treatment for depression, public inquiry told