Khairy: Give new FAM team time to make changes

KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pix) has called on local football fans to refrain from criticising the national team following its defeat to Lebanon in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifying match last week.
He said fans should give some time to the new Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) management and the new national head coach to show results.
"We must give time to the new FAM team under Johor Crown Prince, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and coach Eduardo "Nelo" Vingada. You can't expect instant success in such a short period.
"We must understand that when a new (FAM) management is elected and a new coach appointed, they need time. So we must give them that, and not judge based on just one match," he told reporters, here, today.
The Harimau Malaya, ranked 155th in the Fifa rankings from 206 teams, crumbled to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of 135th-ranked Lebanon at the Larkin Stadium in Johor on June 13.
Following the defeat, disgruntled local football fans had taken to social media to criticise the national team, forcing even FAM deputy president Datuk Wira Yusoff Mahadi to ask fans to calm down or risk seeing Tunku Ismail leaving his post just three months into his tenure.
Tunku Ismail officially became the new FAM president on March 25 during the 53rd FAM Congress, while coach Vingada was only appointed as head coach on May 15.
Khairy said while he acknowledged that criticism in sports is common, but to judge someone based on their first match in charge was unfair.
"I can't say 'don't criticise', but they are new. Don't be too fast to condemn and punish, otherwise our sports industry will never improve.
"I watched the game myself, and I see a lot of changes and improvements. And I'm confident more positive changes are on the way," he said.