KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — Malaysian football will lose a valuable asset if Lim Teong Kim’s services as director of the Mokhtar Dahari Football Academy (MDFA) is terminated, said national women’s hockey team coach Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah.

He said one should not be deemed a complete failure just because he did not meet one target.

Muhammad Dharma Raj, who led the national junior hockey team to fourth placing in the 2013 Junior World Cup, said that in the context of sports development, success at the youth level would not necessarily translate to future excellence.

“The team may not win anything (at youth level) but the players will bloom if they are allowed to train under a coach of such high calibre,” he told Bernama.

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He cited the example of how England gave their men’s junior hockey team head coach Jon Bleby 10 years to groom the players, who then went on to create history by winning the Sultan of Johor Cup for the first time this year.

“I have handled the men and women’s senior squads since leaving the national juniors but Bleby is still coaching the English juniors. England are not a strong team at the junior level. We even beat them in the 2013 World Cup and England ended up in 14th spot out of 16 teams.

“Although they did not achieve much, they trusted him because of his ability to produce quality players who could easily make the transition to the senior team. So, this is what we are talking about (youth development). Bleby finally achieved success with the squad,” he said.

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That was why, Muhammad Dharma Raj said, it would be a big loss to let go of a local coach with so much international experience.

He said that Teong Kim was the perfect man to spearhead the development of football in the country as he had spent 12 years as assistant coach with Bayern Munich’s youth team and knew every aspect of the local playing culture.

“That’s an advantage Teong Kim has over foreign coaches. These foreign coaches find it difficult to understand the local culture, which is important when it comes to handling a team.

“He (Teong Kim) trained in Bayern Munich and returned to Malaysia. He understands the local football landscape because he grew up and played in Malaysia. That makes him the perfect package,” he said.

Teong Kim, 55, had a contract with MDFA under the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) until 2020. He was viewed as the right man to prepare a platform for the development of football in the country when he was appointed to the post in 2013.

Under his management, the national youth team enjoyed various historic successes internationally, including winning the Iber Costa del Sol Cup in 2015 and the SuperMokh Cup in 2016 as well as finishing in the top three of other invitational tournaments.

His sacking as head coach of the national Under-16 team after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Tournament in 2018 became a hot topic among local fans.

Teong Kim attracted more attention when Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman revealed that he was earning RM175,000 a month.

Muhammad Dharma Raj believes that Teong Kim’s footballing ideology had produced young talents with an exciting style of play.

“I’m 49 years old and I have never seen any Malaysian football team play that way before … it was a different type of football that I’m proud to watch. Their style of play was really good. Some of the players showed a lot of potential, like Luqman Hakim Shamsudin … he is fantastic player.

“Teong Kim also has the character of a unique coach. No matter how strict he is, the players still respect him,” he added.

Bernama understands that Teong Kim is in Germany to spend time with his family while he awaits a decision on his status as the MDFA director.

According to sources, Teong Kim is likely to be retained as MDFA director. — Bernama