Faiz's achievement should not be put on a pedestal: TMJ

PETALING JAYA: Penang footballer Mohd Faiz Subri's achievement in winning the FIFA Puskas Award should be congratulated but not placed on a pedestal, said Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
In a post on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page, today, Tunku Ismail explained that he disagreed with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), which stated that Faiz's goal was a benchmark for Malaysian football.
"It's true that Faiz's achievement is good, but when FAM stated that his achievement is a benchmark for Malaysian Football, I beg to differ.
"The reason being, he's only scored one goal, and a apart from that, he's been oblivious throughout the season.
"The media have been talking about Faiz's goal for the last three months leading to the award and now that he has won it, it seems that they will continue to speak about it for the next six months. In this span of nine months, what will happen to the progress of our nation's football?," he questioned.
As such he opined that Faiz's achievement shouldn't be taken as a reflection of the overall state of Malaysian football.
"Personally, I do not want to be a part of the Malaysian mentality.
"This is a good individual achievement, but we must ask, where does the national football stand in terms of corruption, international standing, and team management in comparison to teams like Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines or Indonesia that are on a constant and rapid incline," he stated further in the post.
Tunku Ismail stressed that the Malaysian football scene was unable to progress in every aspect due to the media and the people placing Faiz on a pedestal and being comfortable with national team's current standing.
"The benchmark for the nation's football is Johor Darul Takzim (JDT.)
"JDT's achievement in Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is how the world learns about JDT. They've given their highest recognition after seeing our professional management blue print we have in place as well as the various projects that we've carried out.
"That should be the benchmark for Malaysian football. JDT should be the a model for all teams in this country to emulate, and not use an individual who scored one goal as a benchmark," he said.
Instead, Tunku Ismail opined that he would be prouder to give recognition to players such as Zainal Abidin Hassan, Dollah Salleh, Santokh Singh, Amri Yahyah, Safiq Rahim, Aidil Zafuan, Safee Sali, Badrol Radzi, Indraputra, Khairul Fahmi and Hairuddin Omar as they have scored goals every season and achieved success at the clubs they have represented.
"Our football is still straggling and our world ranking is still ranked very low. No one is making any initiative to raise the level of football management for our nation's football or raising the standards of our league," he said, adding that everyone should work together to end favouritism, corruption and raise the level of the national team.
"All of you are overly proud of an individual, but choose not to address more important elements such as our integrity and the current reputation of our national football which I'm sure everyone is aware of," he added.