GIVEN that the national team have now hit rock bottom, the time is right for Malaysian football to bring in its first foreign coach in a decade.
And the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) doesn’t have to go far to find the perfect international candidate — he’s already living in the southern state of Johor.
Croatian Bojan Hodak, who has been twiddling his thumbs since being rested by reigning Malaysia Super League (MSL) champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) two months ago, could be the man to turn around the fortunes of Harimau Malaya.
Based on silverware won, the 44-year-old has been one of the most successful coaches in Southeast Asia over the past three years. He’s collected five trophies with Kelantan and JDT, including the 2012 and 2014 MSL titles.
The FAM are in the process of reviewing coach Dollah Salleh after Malaysia’s pathetic home performances in their opening AFC World Cup qualifiers earlier this month. After drawing 1-1 to minnows Timor-Leste at Kuala Lumpur’s National Stadium on June 11, Malaysia were thrashed 6-0 at the same venue five days later by emerging football nation Palestine in front of fewer than 5,000 fans.
They’ve failed to win a game in 2015, suffering another 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Oman in March and then struggling to a 0-0 home draw with Hong Kong a few weeks later.
Last year’s impressive run to the AFF Suzuki Cup final seems like a distant memory with the honeymoon period over for former Pahang boss Dollah.
Six years ago, Dato K. Rajagobal put the pride back in the national shirt during his four years in charge, winning the 2009 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games football gold medal followed by the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.
Another Malaysian, Dato Ong Kim Swee, also did well to claim 2011 SEA Games gold as well as the 2013 Merdeka Tournament.
But a local coach is not what is needed now, with Malaysia ranked 162nd by FIFA — below Bhutan, Afghanistan and Aruba — and likely to fall after the recent poor results.
Hodak brings the authority of a foreign boss — he played as a defender in Croatia’s lower leagues — with the cultural sensitivities of a local coach. He came to Southeast Asia as a player in the 1990s and has a young Malaysian family, with a young son and a wife who grew up in Penang. He’s also added coaching experience in China — he was an assistant at CSL club Shandong Luneng — as well as Cambodia. He has even worked as a video analyst at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Kuala Lumpur.
The only question mark would be about his exit from the JDT coaching job. But this was reportedly brought about by problems he had in dealing with the import players from South America, not the locals.
Anyone who has been within the inner sanctum of the cashed-up Southern Tigers knows that there is a challenging political tightrope to walk in dealing with demanding Johor Football Association president Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim, better known as TMJ.
Hodak skilfully handled the royal demands for the best part of a year and a half. JDT won the 2014 league title by three points from Selangor and made the 2014 Malaysia Cup final before losing to Pahang on penalties. A mere five months ago, he won the 2015 Charity Shield against the same opposition.
When he was “rested”, JDT were fourth on the table with 15 points from nine games, but within striking distance of the top in a closely fought race.
Local players admire and respect the chrome-domed former native of Zagreb. His stern exterior indicates that he is a firm disciplinarian and can’t be messed with, but as a Malaysian permanent resident he also understands the challenges faced by local players — like fasting in Ramadan — that other foreigners might not.
The added advantage is that Hodak has worked extensively with the majority of the current national players at club level and could bring in a ready made backroom staff.
The last non-Malaysian national coach was Hungarian Bertalan Bicskei in 2005. Before that, Englishmen Allan Harris and Ken Warden, Frenchman Claude Le Roy and Tunisien Hartem Souisi were among those given a chance. Of them, only former Chelsea defender Harris (2001-2004) lasted more than two years.
At the beginning of last year, Japan’s former French boss Philippe Troussier was the leading candidate to take over from Dato Rajagobal — ahead of Singapore’s ex-Serbian manager Radojko Avramovic and Englishman Bob Houghton, recent head coach of India — but, predictably, the multi-million dollar deal fell through. And probably just as well, because Troussier, with little knowledge of Malaysian football, would almost certainly not been value for money.
Dollah is scheduled to take charge of Malaysia for a friendly against Kuwait before further AFC World Cup qualifiers against United Arab Emirates (Sep. 3) and Saudi Arabia (Sep. 8). Further heavy defeats can be expected against these tough West Asian sides. Surely that would be the perfect time make a change of national coaches.
While Hodak is certainly not a miracle worker, he is the best solution — at the right price — for Harimau Malaya. FAM could do a lot worse than invite Hodak to drive up the North-South Highway from his home in Nusajaya to pay them a visit in Kelana Jaya as they continue their review of a national team in free fall.
* Jason Dasey is Senior Editor of ESPN FC (formerly ESPN Soccernet), Borneo’s most popular football website which has a Southeast Asia edition. Twitter: @ESPNFC