THE Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) much-vaunted F:30 Roadmap 2019-2030 was torn to shreds in 90 diabolical minutes as Indonesia unceremoniously dumped Malaysia out of the AFF Cup on Sunday.
The 4-1 defeat to opponents who just two years ago were struggling to keep pace with Malaysia, left much to be desired, with a hail of criticism sure to come the way of FAM and national coach Tan Cheng Hoe.
Nowhere in that display was it evident that the national team had any semblance of the DNA philosophy which FAM touted when launching the so-called roadmap two years ago.
So inept was the performance by the national team in defeats by Vietnam and Indonesia that it makes you wonder why FAM bothered to send a team to Singapore at all.
Especially a half-baked squad missing a host of key players, which to this day FAM have not offered a satisfactory explanation as to their absence, and one which barely had a preparatory period.
The question now is will FAM stand up and take responsibility for this debacle or will they hang Cheng Hoe out to dry and make him the sacrificial lamb?
Indonesia had not had an easier time beating Malaysia since 1999 when they cruised to a 6-0 win at the Sea Games in Brunei. They also beat Malaysia 5-1 in the opening match of the 2010 AFF Cup but K. Rajagobal's charges memorably recovered to win that tournament.
This display was a far cry from 2019 when Malaysia did the double over Indonesia in the World Cup qualifiers, leaving our Nusantara derby rivals trailing in our wake.
Cheng Hoe's charges were in the ascendancy, the outlook so rosy, but then the pandemic hit and put the national team behind the curve.
It makes next year's Asian Cup qualifying campaign against tougher opposition a daunting challenge for Malaysia.
Malaysia won just three of 11 matches in 2021 — an academic World Cup qualifier against Thailand and against minnows Cambodia and Laos at the AFF Cup, scoring 12 while conceding 29 goals. It should be noted none of these games were played on home soil.
Cheng Hoe also utilised a staggering 40 players in those 11 matches while giving international debuts to 11 players, hardly the look of a settled national team.
These 11 include naturalised or heritage players Guilherme De Paula, Liridon Krasniqi, Dion Cools, Samuel Somerville and Quentin Cheng as well as youngsters Arif Aiman Hanapi, Luqman Hakim Shamsuddin and Mukhairi Ajmal Mahadi.
But to blame the team's ills on Covid-19 alone is disingenuous because there are clear reasons, and some unexplained ones, behind Malaysia's regression.
Nor did the AFF Cup do anything for Malaysia's Fifa ranking, with the points tally back to where they started.
The four points gained from beating Cambodia and Laos were wiped out by defeats to Vietnam and Indonesia.
One reason for the sorry performances at the AFF Cup is a poorly-planned domestic season, interspersed with an ill-advised trip to Jordan in the middle of the Malaysia Cup, which resulted in the tournament being extended to take into account the quarantine period the players needed to serve upon their return.
This in turn had the knock-on effect of depriving Cheng Hoe of time to work with his under-manned squad after the Malaysia Cup final on Nov 30.
Injuries and positive Covid-19 cases as good as doomed Malaysia's chances before they even kicked a ball in anger.
The absence of key Johor Darul Ta'zim players remains a mystery with only Safawi Rasid and Arif Aiman Hanapi among those who started the Malaysia Cup final named in the national squad.
Losing three players from Malaysia Cup champions Kuala Lumpur City, including midfielder Akram Mahinan and Kenny Pallraj, did not help either.
Cheng Hoe's selection was questionable from the start, especially when he was left with just two functioning midfielders when all was said and done.
Playing right-footed Syahmi Safari at left-back was symptomatic of Cheng Hoe's plans in trying to fit square pegs in round holes including Baddrol Bakhtiar's oft-changing roles, Guilherme De Paula's cameos, Dion Cools' switch to a forward position, and confusion as to how best to utilise M. Kogileswaran Raj, who still managed to score twice despite not knowing how he fits in.
No analysis is complete without a mention of De Paula, whose naturalisation raised hackles.
Two goals in 10 international appearances are a poor return from the naturalised player when the Brazil-born striker used to score goals for fun in the M-League.
Following fierce criticism of his displays, De Paula has curbed his instinctive nature to go it alone which may have rendered him less effective.
In the end, he started just one game in Singapore.
In a personal milestone, Safawi emerged as Malaysia's international top scorer in a calendar year for a second successive year with five goals — excluding 2020 when there were no matches played.