The Malaysia Experiment - World Cup 2018

"Rest until you feel like playing,
then play until you feel like resting. Period.
Never do anything else." - Martha Beck

I'm back! 6 months have passed and we're in September 2018 now. A lot has happened so let's get everyone updated.

Firstly, Belguim won the FIFA World Cup! Their 'golden generation' beat England 2-1 in the final to secure their first World Cup win.

A quick look at the awards - Golden Boot was won by Harry Kane (9 goals). Best player goes to Leon Bailey, who could have represented England, while second and third place went to Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford (almost total English domination!). Golden glove (best goalkeeper) was Gianluigi Buffon at the ripe age of 40 while on the opposite end, golden boy (best young player) was won by Leon Bailey.

Have a look at the dream team! Italy in the defense department, England in the attacking department, and Belguim takes everything in between.

As for Harimau Malaya, I've hired a bunch of scouts to help discover talents. So far we've only got 1 player who can easily break into the starting 11 - Muhd Syazwan Ismawi (DL). He's got really good mental and physical stats for a 16-year-old.

In other news, our Under 23s will be the Asian Games Football Tournament. This year the Asian Games are being held at Indonesia. Hope that Frank Bernhardt will lead them on a good run.

I would dare to dream of at least going through to the second round. The draw has been kind to us - Palestine Under 23s (141st), Sri Lanka Under 23s (178th) and our rivals Thailand Under 23s (127th).

The only problem is that I'm left with not much heading down south in my friendlies against New Zealand (102nd) and Australia (54th).

With my friendly against New Zealand sandwiched in between the U23s matches, I refrained myself from calling up any players into the senior squad. Senior squads will always be prioritized over U23s squads, and even though I would consider it within close proximity between Indonesia (where the Asian Games Football Tournament is taking place) and Australasia (where my friendlies are being played), it would be too taxing for the players, especially at such a young age.

Just look at the number of good players that are currently playing at the Asian Games Football Tournament! Our future is definitely very bright! I'm happy that I, at least, get to call up Muhd Syazwan Ismawi (DL) and see him in action.

Last but not least, I'm surprised and shocked to see that we're placed at 76th in the recent rankings!

I called up the squad for the upcoming friendlies. More than half (12 out of 23) have never pulled on a jersey for Malaysia. It's definitely going to be interesting as I pick out my team for the games against New Zealand and Australia. Stay tuned!

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If you enjoyed this entry, do check out my previous posts
from where it all started, right up to now.

The Malaysia Experiment - The Setup
The Malaysia Experiment - Welcome to Malaysia!
The Malaysia Experiment - Getting to Know the Players
The Malaysia Experiment - Why Wan?
The Malaysia Experiment - My Managerial Debut
The Malaysia Experiment - The First Step
The Malaysia Experiment - First Cut Is The Deepest
The Malaysia Experiment - David vs Goliath
The Malaysia Experiment - A New Malaysia?
The Malaysia Experiment - Here Comes The Doubters
The Malaysia Experiment - Qualification Wrapped Up?
The Malaysia Experiment - See You In United Arab Emirates in 2019!