All is not lost, Malaysia

Asian Cup Qualifying Group D - Malaysia 0 Qatar 1

It was a 100% improvement from the Malayan Tigers as they stepped up the pace and played with more urgency in a must win match against Qatar on Tuesday night, after the disappointing loss to Bahrain last Friday.

The brilliance of Khairul Fahmi in goal meant we stayed in contention for three points until the 65th minute.

The industry of Safiq Rahim and K. Gurusamy has to be applauded while a proper defender in Razman Roslan, albeit still not a natural left footer at left back, added more steel in defence.

A special mention to Amirizwan Taj who is looking like the best Malaysian centre-back we have seen in the last 10 years.

This team needs some tactical nous and a little tinkering with formations as we pretty much have the talent available to step up another level.

The case in point is skipper Safiq Rahim. His skill set is better suited to being a number 10 behind Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Safee Sali.

However, he expands unnecessary energy in areas where he becomes ineffective to the team; how much of this is down to tactics and strategy we may never know. Switching his role to a pure attacking midfielder certainly leaves the burden of manning central midfield to K. Gurusamy.

Maybe, just maybe, a 4-3-1-2 would be better suited to the talent available. The three in midfield would be Shakir Shaari anchoring with K.Gurusamy and Nazmi Faiz Mansor on either side of him.

This would give the team composure, energy and guile in addition to freeing up Safiq Rahim to play in the hole behind the two central strikers.

Norshahrul and Safee are most effective when playing as a pair, much closer to each other up front. We have not seen these two play as a partnership despite the combination proving so effective in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.

This formation will give us much needed defensive stability, and allow players to play to their strengths, which will translate into positive performances and more importantly, positive results.

In conclusion, the outlook is still positive for me and I dare say that having watched Malaysia play Bahrain and Qatar, I believe there is no true gulf in class between K Rajagopal's boys and their opponents.

WC2014, European qualifying playoff 2nd leg - Sweden 2  Portugal 3

Taking a 1-0 lead to Stockholm was always going to be tricky for the Portuguese, but Cristiano Ronaldo did what he seems destined to do: score.

Meanwhile, Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic was very much lacking in support, just like in the first leg but still managed to grab a brace for himself. To be fair to Ibrahimovic though, he played in a slightly withdrawn role to try to set play up and certainly did much better than Sebastian Larsson ever had his entire career.

Ronaldo's goals were textbook finishing from the forward - brilliant through balls by Joao Moutinho twice releasing Ronaldo who through sheer pace put some distance between himself and his would-be defenders.

The goal count is 66 and counting this calendar year for the Portuguese boy.

Actually, this preference for statistics across a calendar year, when the football season traditionally runs from August till May, baffles me. Perhaps it is due to the FIFA Ballon D'Or award, which makes these stats more significant.

Then again, no trophy is won from August to December other than the odd individual accolade.

All said and done, the Portuguese will certainly bring better players to the World Cup even though it remains to be seen if they can be strong and consistent as a team.

WC2014, European qualifying playoff 2nd leg - France 3 Ukraine 0

Didier Deschamps listened to our laments (partially, at least) and started Yohan Cabaye in what turned out to be a convincing victory for Les Blues over Ukraine in Paris.

Paul Pogba's all-around midfield display was a sight to behold as well. His athleticism complemented by an awareness in positioning and ball control simply belies his tender age.

Samir Nasri, meanwhile, was rightly dropped from the first-team and replaced by Mathieu Valbuena, whose consistency throughout the qualifying campaign makes it even more curious as to why Deschamps decided upon Nasri's starting berth in the first leg in Kiev.

Also, Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema's touch and movement was sublime, offering far more up front than Oliver Giroud did in the first leg.

The big question for the French now must surely be the temperament of the players. We all know what happened in South Africa in 2010. This time though, they have a World Cup winner leading them and expect Deschamps to not tolerate any rubbish.

Still, there remains big decisions to be made on the choice of playmaker and central defensive pairing. I would pick Raphael Varane and one other, with Laurent Koscielny's silly red card in the first leg making his selection a little less certain. - November 21, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.