KUALA LUMPUR – Former national under-16 head coach P. Maniam believes local coaches should be prioritised in leading Malaysia’s young footballers rather than foreign coaches.
The 56-year-old, who had a one-year reign with the team from 2019 to 2020, was one of four local coaches tasked with leading the team over the past 11 years.
The previous local coaches who led the team were S. Balachandran (2013-2014), P. Somasundram (2015-2016), Datuk Lim Teong Kim (2017-2018) and Osmera Omaro (2022 to January this year).
The current team are under the guidance of Spaniard Javier Jorda Ribera, who was appointed by national U16s manager Christopher Raj to form a formidable side for this year’s AFF U16 Boys’ Championship, scheduled to take place in Indonesia.
Malaysia are drawn in Group C alongside Thailand, East Timor and Australia for this year’s tournament from June 21 to July 4 in Surakarta.
For the record, the 36-year-old Ribera was also the youth coach and academy manager for Johor Darul Ta’zim FC.
Speaking to Scoop, Maniam, who is currently the head coach of PDRM FC, said that only local coaches were able to understand the pulse of the young players and bring the best out of them in competitions.
“I strongly believe that under-16 coaches should be local rather than foreigners because we local coaches can understand the pulse of our players better.
“Our local coaches know how to manage the attitude of our players and how to be on good terms with them. I’m not saying that foreign coaches are bad, but they will definitely have difficulties adapting to the culture of the dressing room. It will be hard for them to gel with the mentality of our young players, and this will affect the team as a whole.
“Foreign coaches are not less competent than us in terms of coaching, but we local coaches have trained for years in finding players from the grassroots level and we have better data analysis of all the top young players in the country.
“The current foreign coach should be given more assignments to get to know the players from all levels without it being easy.
“During my time, I put in more effort by coaching players from the under-14 and under-15 levels as well so that they could be absorbed into the national under-16 system. These kinds of efforts are only possible with local coaches because we know where and how to find the right players for the team,” said Maniam when contacted.
At the same time, Maniam also said the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) should bring in more A-licensed coaches to elevate the gameplay and standard of its players.
For the record, the academy, established in 2014 with the goal of producing some of the finest talents in local football, has been the main contributor (90%) of players for the national U16s in competitions over the years.
However, statistics have shown that only a few top talents from the academy over the past decade have managed to see success in their careers, such as Arif Aiman Hanapi, who plays for JDT, and Luqman Hakim Shamsudin, who plays for YSCC Yokohama in Japan.
“AMD needs to hire more knowledgeable coaches, not just those with B and C licences. We need more A-licence coaches to develop and elevate our young players to world standard.
“The current coaching standards at AMD are miles behind compared to the coaching team we used to have, and this is something that needs to be worked on at the academy before it’s too late.
“We need coaches who have the ability to switch their formations and ensure that players can adapt to the system easily. For example, coaches with quick decision-making and players who are able to switch from a 3-4-3 to a 4-4-2 formation if things are not working on the pitch,” Maniam added.
Maniam, who played for Selangor FC in the 1990s, holds a Pro Diploma licence from the Asian Football Confederation, the highest coaching licence in Asia and equivalent to UEFA’s Pro Licence.
Notable players developed by coach Maniam during his career include Syahmi Safari (JDT), V. Ruventhiran (Selangor FC), Darren Lok (Sabah FC) and Mahali Jasuli (KL City FC).
During Maniam’s tenure, Malaysia U16s saw success in the competitions they participated in.
The team won the 2019 U16 Boys’ Championship with the likes of Arif Aiman and Luqman Hakim, defeating hosts Thailand 2-1 in the final.
His side also won the Jockey Club Football Tournament and Chinese Football Association International Youth Tournament in 2019.
In the previous edition of the U16 Boys’ Championship in 2022, which also took place in Indonesia, Malaysia were knocked out in the group stage. – June 18, 2024