Sathianathan advises Kim Swee to take a break after AFF Cup exit

Football Coaches Association of Malaysia (FCAM) President B. Sathianathan urged National head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee to take a break following the National team's disappointing outing in the AFF Suzuki Cup competition in Yangon, Myanmar.

Sathianathan, in acknowledging the fact that he too had experienced the bitter reality of facing a similar situation when he was the National coach and the squad had failed in the preliminary round of the AFF Cup in 2008, said it would be the best option.

"The best option for Kim Swee now is to take a break. Critics and criticism are part and parcel of the game and we cannot avoid but must accept," he said at the National Football Symposium at the Research Management and Innovation Complex in University Malaya, today.

Sathianathan also admonished the failure of football transformation programmes that were aimed at revolutionizing football in the country at the grassroots level.

"Our only hope now is the National Football Development Programme (NFDP). I have been monitoring the progress of the NFDP team and the players have shown tremendous improvement in their passing, interaction with the goalkeeper and overall performance," he said.

In the AFF Suzuki Cup competition in Yangon, Myanmar, the National team under Kim Swee failed to get past the group stages.

The National team which is also known as Harimau Malaya kicked off the AFF Suzuki Cup campaign on a high with a 3-2 win over Cambodia but lost 0-1 to Vietnam and 0-1 to Myanmar yesterday.

The two defeats proved costly as Malaysia finished third in the group and missed the boat to the semifinals.

-- Bernama