Palestine coach advises FAM: Revamp national team

As war-ravaged Palestine went on a blitzkrieg, hammering the Malaysian national team 6-0 in the 2018 World Cup Qualifying tie last night, Palestinian football coach, Abdel Nasser Barakat offered a sobering advice to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), "Revamp the Malaysian national team!"

The former Palestine Under-23 coach who was shocked by Malaysia's awful display, said the national team should follow the Palestinian way of coming up with a strong team for the future, comprising talented young players.

"I think they (FAM) need to do the same as (what was done by) the Palestinian national team...we changed most of the players.

"I know there are too many good young players (out there) but Malaysia have to do the same (as well).

"We changed too many players and replaced them with young players. Nevertheless, I hope and wish them luck for the next game.

"We wanted to win this game but we were surprised because it was a very big result, we did not expect they (Malaysia) will give up after conceding three goals and did not try to get back to the game," he told reporters after the match at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last night.

War-weary Palestine, ranked 118, enjoyed a goal feast as they whipped Malaysia - ranked 162 - 6-0 in the 2018 Russia World Cup and 2019 UAE Asian Cup joint qualifications, Group A match, last night.

Barakat, 43, appointed by the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) last March, made 15 changes to his line up with the average age ranging between 22 and 24, after the group stage knockout in the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia in January, despite a maiden appearance at the tournament.

His side however, surprised football fans worldwide in the Group A opening match against Saudi Arabia, where the home side needed an injury time goal to secure a narrow win of 3-2 at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Bin Abdul Aziz Stadium, Dammam on Thursday.

Palestine, sharing three points with Arab Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Group A standings, however has topped the group with the huge goal margin gained yesterday.

Meanwhile, Malaysia who started badly with a 1-1 draw against minnows, Timor Leste, are currently in the last place, sharing one point with Timor Leste.

Barakat's efforts to create a stronger Palestinian national team for the future has already begun to bear fruit, following his easiest win last night, despite having lesser funds to run the team, compared to the Malaysian side.

"We entered this qualifying round to get more experience, good results and give confidence to the players. However, a 6-0 win is surely a big boost for the team. It is not that big a budget (we were given) as you know that Palestinian people are in a state of crisis...but we did a camp in Tunisie.

"It was a very good camp, we played three games against strong teams, (and) regardless of the results there, we tried to correct the mistakes and the players got the experience to enter this qualifying round," he said.

Palestine will host UAE on September 8, after the Malaysian side visits UAE on September 3 in the third match.