THEY now call him the “Special One”.
Coach K. Rajagopal has raised the bar for Malaysian football from laughing stocks to gaining some measure of respect on the international stage.
The 54-year-old former international, who played alongside the legendary Mokhtar Dahari in the early 80s, is now making a name for himself as one of the most successful coaches in Malaysia.
He has back-to-back victories at the 2009 Laos SEA Games Under-23 tournament and in the just concluded Suzuki Cup Asean Football Federation (AFF) championship for senior national teams.
The man deserves credit for making something out of nothing. He did not have his best men for the job in the AFF tournament with 10 key players not available for selection because of injuries.
The entire back four, comprising Mohd Muslim Ahmad, Mohd Fadhli Shas and Mohd Sabree Abu from the Harimau Muda National Under-21 squad and Selangor’s Mohd Asraruddin Putra stood in for Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak, Mohd Nasriq Baharom and Azmi Muslim.
And goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat was also making his senior international debut in the tournament.
Rajagopal said that he was tired of telling Malaysian fans that these boys needed time to get better.
“Don’t have high hopes, yet. They have a long way to go and need to play top-notch matches regularly,” he said yesterday.
“It’s not easy as what some people think. I go through a lot and have sleepless nights, thinking of game plans and strategies with this young national side, whose players have an average age of 22.”
Rajagopal added that the fans and the people of Malaysia should start believing in the players and the national team.
“We didn’t have that kind of undying support from our fans until we reached a certain stage,” he said. “See how the Indonesian fans kept motivating their players despite having lost (0-3) to us in the first-leg final.
“It was the same in Vietnam (in the semi-final tie).
“They have passion for their national team.
“We deserve the same, too. Would our fans still be behind us if we had lost 0-3 in the first-leg at home?
“The media played their part. They hyped up the game and were there for the team through thick and thin.
“It is this kind of positive support that the players need to be encouraged if they are to go far.
“They should not be made the laughing stock each time they lose a game.
“We lost to Indonesia (1-5) in the opening game because we had a young team, who had not settled down well yet.
“They made individual mistakes and they learnt from them.
“Why criticise them? They have to be given a second chance.
“I have these boys with me for two years. Nobody gave us a chance to be in the final. These boys worked their guts out and they deserve all the credit for that.
“It is not just my training alone that made them champions.
“It is a concerted effort by all quarters concerned to make it happen.”
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