malaysian tiger

In our country, when we talk about Malaysian Tiger it is synonym with our own Malaysia National Football Team. Football is one of the major sports in Malaysia and our country used to be one of the biggest forces in the history of Asian football during the 1950s until 1980s.

During that period of time our National Team had played in many of major tournaments. One of the first achievements by our national team was to won the bronze medal during the 1962 Asian Games. However the team that won the bronze medal is known as the Malaya National Football Team. After the establishment of Malaysia in 1963 our National Team qualified to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Two years after later in 1974 Asian Games our National Team repeated their achievement in 1962 Asian Games by winning the bronze medal again after defeated North Korea 2 – 1.

During the 1980s our National Team once again qualified to the Olympic Games in Moscow after defeated South Korea 2 – 1 in Merdeka Stadium. However our National Team did not participate in the Moscow’s 1980 Olympic Games due to the Soviet Union invasion towards Afghanistan. Our National Team final achievement before the 80 come to its end was to become the Gold Medallist in the 1989 SEA Games held in Kuala Lumpur. Our National Team defeated Singapore 3 – 1 in the final match held in Merdeka Stadium to become the winner.

Then, came the dark age of our National Football era. During the 1990s our National Team hits the bottom of the ocean. They failed to regain any achievements, the fans lost their faith and our National Team lost plenty of game and was always humiliated by the opponent.

However in the early 2000s, the sun started to shine on our side, during the 2001 SEA Games held in Kuala Lumpur our National Team became the silver medallist after being lost to Thailand 0 – 1 in the final match held in Shah Alam Stadium. Eight years later and after twenty years of wait, Malaysia is once again a winner and a Gold Medallist in the 2009 SEA Games held in Vientiane Laos. Our National Team defeated Vietnam 1 – 0 to won the Gold medal.

Year 2010 is the year where the tiger if finally unleashed. Our National Team took part in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. We lost our very first game to Indonesia 1 – 5 even though being able to score first during the game. Despite the big lost, our National Team managed to be in the semi final after defeated Laos 5 – 1.

In the semi final our National Team take on Vietnam in a home away match. The first match held in Kuala Lumpur saw our National Team defeated Vietnam 2 – 0. In the second match we managed to drew level with 0 – 0. With the 2 – 0 aggregate we marching our way to the final match against Indonesia, the team that defeated us in the first game with five goals to one.

The final match was also in the home away format. Our National Team managed to play the first game at home soil. We won the game with three goals to none. With the three goals advantage we stepped into the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. We lost the lost match 1 – 2. Despite the loss we were crowned as the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup Champion after beating Indonesia 4 – 2 in aggregate.

Since that win, Malaysian football scene has shine again like how it used to in the 1970s – 1980s. The fans have regaining their faith towards our National Team. The game of football has really united all the Malaysian despite being different in race, religion and belief. This really shows that we do not need some politician to unite us, all we need is men and a ball.