One for the album: The girls from Aurora Kickers Football Club and Shah Alam Rovers who attended the ‘Okada’ football clinic.
SHAH ALAM: Malaysia are optimistic of parading a decent squad for the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup from Dec 8-Jan 5 despite a busy yearend calendar for Asian club football.
FA of Malaysia (FAM) technical director, Scott O’ Donell, believes Harimau Malaya possess good squad depth and the best players would be available for selection for the 15th edition of the Cup.
“The Asean tournament, in its present shape and previous incarnations, has always been a much-sought after and important title, with the major footballing nations in the region competing for the bragging rights as the regional kingpins.
While acknowledging Malaysian clubs would be involved in the Asian Champions League Elite and ACL 2 in December, O’Donell said the Mitsubishi Electric Cup remains an important tournament where everyone gives 100 percent. O’Donell was speaking at a football clinic designed for aspiring youth footballers as part of a CSR initiative being hosted by title partners Mitsubishi Electric in conjunction with the tournament’s Trophy Tour.
A group of girls from Shah Alam Rovers Academy and Aurora Kickers Football Club participated in the lessons and mini games using the ‘Okada’ method, named after the famed Takeshi Okada.
The clinic was conducted by coaches of FC Imabari, a Japanese professional club in the Meiji Yasuda J3 League chaired by Okada who led Japan to their first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1998 and the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
O’Donell was full of praise for the clinic for giving the girls the opportunity to be exposed to another way of playing the game.
The Okada method is a system of football coaching methodology that focuses on promoting self-reliant players and autonomous teams, with emphasis on ‘techniques and play patterns’ for effective performance based on “play models” and “collection of training exercises for each age group”.
“What is important is that the girls had fun and keep on coming back to play the game and be part of the system,” said O’Donell.
Also present were key members of the victorious Malaysian team that lifted the Cup in 2010, Mohd Amri Yahyah, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Mahali Jasuli.
