KUALA LUMPUR – National football icon Datuk Dollah Salleh believes that outgoing national team head coach Pau Marti Vicente should have been given more time to lead the team, rather than being axed in favour of the new national football team structure.
Dollah’s comments came after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced Peter Cklamovski’s appointment as the head coach of the national team and Nafuzi Zain’s role as head coach of the under-23 team.
Cklamovski, 46, an Australian with extensive experience as an assistant coach for the Socceroos and a successful coaching career in Japan’s J-League, will take over from Pau Marti after the AFF Championship concludes.
Speaking to Scoop, Dollah, who earned 81 caps for Harimau Malaya between 1984 and 1996, said Pau Marti had already made notable progress with the national team and, given more time, could have taken them even further.
For the record, Pau Marti, who replaced Kim Pan-gon as head coach in July, recently led Malaysia to victory at the Merdeka Cup with a squad averaging 25 years of age.
“I do understand that FAM is introducing a new structure for the national team and has gone after a high-profile coach, but in my opinion, it’s not fair to discard a coach who has been experimenting with the team since coming on board,” said Dollah.
“Pau Marti has the experience of working with many footballers since his days as assistant coach to Pan-gon, and he is one of the few coaches in recent times who broke from the over-reliance on selecting JDT players for the national team.
“He understands the system better and has also managed to earn the trust of the dressing room. I hope FAM will give him an opportunity to contribute, so they can utilise his expertise in the new structure of the national team.
“Having Pau Marti as an assistant coach to Nafuzi would help maintain the growth and transition of the national team,” Dollah added when contacted.
Cklamovski began his coaching career as an assistant for the Australian national team (2014 – 2017) before moving to Yokohama F. Marinos (2018–2020).
He later took on head coach roles at Shimizu S-Pulse (2020) and Montedio Yamagata (2021 – 2023), where he managed to lift the team from the relegation zone to playoff contention in the Japanese second division.
Harimau Malaya will kick off their 2027 Asian Cup qualification campaign in March, starting with a match against Nepal, followed by games against Vietnam and Laos in the group stage. – December 17, 2024