Asian football mentally lacking, says AFC chief

Asian football mentally lacking, says AFC chief

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Asian coaches must improve their players' mental agility if the region is to compete in world football, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said Monday.

Commenting on the disappointing performance of Asian teams in the recent world youth football championship here, AFC secretary Peter Velappan said Asian teams lacked tactical awareness and mental commitment.

"It is pointless working hard on the field but not creating the opportunities to score," he said.

"The lack of mental tenacity is the result of players not properly prepared for the highly competitive environment of the World Youth Cup," Velappan said.

Velappan said coaches needed to reflect seriously on how to develop the younger generation of Asian footballers.

"The Asian coach has to be keenly aware of the progress taking place around him and in other continents. He needs to be tactically innovative," he said.

Velappan said the AFC had asked China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia to conduct a post-mortem on their disappointing performance in the tournament.

"We want to know what went wrong," he said.

"With the exception of Japan who made the quarterfinals and lost to Ghana on a golden goal, none of the other countries in contention came close to displaying standards which had been expected of them," he said.

Japan lost 2-1 to Ghana in the quarterfinals. The UAE made it to the second round while China, South Korea and host Malaysia crashed out in the preliminary matches.

Velappan said it was sad that Asia had failed to do well despite all the time and effort put in by its five teams to prepare for the event.

It was great to organize major tournaments in Asia but the feat must be matched by equally good performances from teams representing the continent, he said.

"We need winners to show the world that Asian football is indeed progressing and the under-20 tournament is just the place for such an effort. "