01 Apr

Former international Dollah Salleh is tipped to become the new national football coach. It is learnt that Dollah, who is now with Premier League side Shahzan Muda, has received an offer to take the hot seat vacated by B. Sathianathan, whose services was terminated last month. Former Sarawak coach Jalil Ramli and former Police coach K. Thaiyanathan have also been linked to become the assistant coaches. Newly-appointed national team manager Datuk Gulzar Mohd Nor indicated last month that he preferred local coaches to take the jobs. Dollah turned to coaching in 2003 and he got off to a great start, leading Petaling Jaya Municipal...

02:22 / Local / Sports
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15 Mar

Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam's position on the FIFA executive committee could be in jeopardy after 19 AFC countries backed rival Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa. Bin Hammam's tenure on the committee comes to an end in two months' time, with Al Khalifa looking to replace the Qatari as one of the region's four representatives. More worryingly for Bin Hammam, the action will also be construed as a referendum on his six-and-a-half-year presidency of the AFC, with the rebel countries unhappy at the 59-year-old's proposal of a 12-year marketing deal with World Sport Group as well as moving...

10:12 / Local / Sports
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06 Mar

THE state of Malaysian football got a kick in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday as the Youth and Sports Ministry wound up points raised during the debate on the Royal Address. The target of MPs ire was the Football Association of Malaysia which they said failed to check the declining standard of the sport. However, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wee Jeck Seng defended FAM, saying that it was planning a programme to revive the fortune of football. Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) chided the FAM for its failure and lamented that the national team could not even beat a country like...

10:04 / Local / Sports
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03 Mar

Arsène Wenger believes that Arsenal's rock-solid defence can be their foundation for success. The Frenchman has watched his team rack up six consecutive clean sheets and concede just three times since Boxing Day. Arsenal's lack of goals at the other end continues to frustrate Wenger but, having watched Manchester United reel off a string of 'professional' one-goal victories this season, the manager knows his team can emulate the champions. "Defensive strength is the foundation for success and we want to keep the focus on that strength," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. "We are in the final sprint of the season and you can...

09:58 / International / Sports
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03 Mar

HAVING grown up in the journalistic world with The Times (of London) long before online newspapers and blogs came on the scene, it was my first read of the morning as a student in England, thanks to a book by its sacked editor, Harold Evans, entitled Good Times, Bad Times, after Rupert Murdoch had taken over the paper. There was an added incentive too – on Mondays, the price wars prompted a 10p (40 sen at that time) cover price when I was there more than 10 years ago. After all these years, its online version and that of The...

09:16 / International / Sports
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03 Mar

REDUAN Abdullah has been relieved of his coaching duties as Premier league side Felda United chief coach following his 12-month ban by the FA of Malaysia (FAM). The club's assistant coach Ahmad Fairuz Yunus, a former Kuala Lumpur player, will be the caretaker coach and his first major task will be to prepare a team for the Premier League away match against Sabah on March 13.Reduan, whose contact with Felda expires on Sept 2010, will be given paid leave for a month pending his appeal against the suspension. The FAM disciplinary board meted out the punishment on Thursday in response to...

08:43 / Local / Sports
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28 Feb

FORMER national coach Allan Harris is willing to help the FA of Malaysia and no, he isn't expecting a big, fat salary. Harris, who handled the various national teams in 2000-2004, has been following Malaysian football's recent developments and just wants to give something back. "Football has been good to me and I just want to give something back to the game. Why not in Malaysia?" said Harris, who contacted Timesport from London yesterday. "I believe we can sit down and work things out. I am not looking at earning a big salary. FAM has been very good to me and...

12:31 / Local / Sports
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28 Feb

HAVING weathered numerous storms before, one gets the impression that the FA of Malaysia feels that it is only a matter of time before the criticism that is being hurled at it goes away. After all, it has happened before as FAM has, somehow, always survived but one gets the feeling that this time, there is no escape. FAM has to change for if it doesn't, then it is staring at the end of Malaysian football. If there was one aspect that always saved FAM before, it was sound governance. Sure, the national team had become a pale shadow of what...

12:22 / Local / Sports
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27 Feb

HE has only been in charge for three matches thus far but Ken Worden could be staring at the exit door should Terengganu get knocked out of the FA Cup by Young Tigers today. That would be a dubious record for a coach who has won the Malaysia Cup and guided the national team before to have but such is the state of Malaysian football. Apparently, if one official is to be believed, there are some in the Terengganu FA who are unhappy with how Worden is managing the team. "We are not very happy with the way he is...

11:43 / Local / Sports
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