KUALA LUMPUR: FA of Malaysia (FAM) president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim is not at all surprised by the national team's drop in the updated FIFA rankings announced today.
Tunku Ismail said he had already anticipated the drop after the national team had been drawn in a tough group for the 2019 Asia Cup qualifiers.
"I have a question to ask. Did the fans really think we were going to beat Lebanon? We cannot win against Lebanon," said Tunku Ismail in a press conference today.
"So what is so surprising? Could we really have beaten North Korea, a team which had previously qualified for the World Cup? I knew before the tournament that we would not win and I did not expect it.
"But as a supporter of the national team, don't wait for the team to lose before criticising the FAM president, it is irresponsible."
The national team fell four places in the rankings to 174, which equals Malaysia's worst ever placing.
TMJ added that he needs to determine the cause of the national teams' continuous decline.
"To evaluate the national team, we have to look at the problems faced by FAM since 10 years ago. It has yet to be a year since I came to FAM and to overcome this problem I have to know the cause.
"We have to evaluate based on facts and not emotion or ill feelings because I am the owner of JDT. That has nothing to do with my job at FAM."
Translated from Berita Harian