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KUALA LUMPUR – Naturalised player Guilherme De Paula has been the punching bag among Malaysian football fans lately due to a series of woeful displays when he donned the Harimau Malaya jersey on the pitch.
However, his goal, courtesy of a penalty kick, which was also the fourth and last for Malaysia when they thrashed Brunei 4-0 in Tier 1 international friendly match last night, had literally silenced the critics, at least for now.
Fans in the Bukit Jalil National Stadium erupted in cheers of approval when De Paula slotted in a spot kick and chanted his name every time the Brazil-born striker touched the ball on the field yesterday.
The Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) player realised that despite coming under loads of brickbats he kept his cool as he knows what he is capable of and what he can offer to the national team.
“Sometimes, you have good days or sometimes bad days, you need to know this thing (critics) happened in football and while they criticised me, I just train and work harder,” he told reporters when met after the match.
On the other hand, the 35-year-old player believed the big win against Brunei last night would motivate his teammates to perform much better against Hong Kong in the next friendly match on June 1.
Meanwhile, V. Ruventhiran, who made his first cap for Malaysia, described the experience as a good start for him as a national player and admitted that he thoroughly enjoyed being among the first eleven against Brunei.
“This is just the beginning, I will keep fighting and work hard to earn my place in the national team after this,” he added.
The Petaling Jaya City FC winger also shared that head coach, Kim Pan-gon was very demanding as he always wanted his players to maintain the quality that they have, be it in training sessions or on match day.
After the match against Hong Kong, Harimau Malaya squad will then face Turkmenistan on June 8, followed by Bahrain (June 11) and Bangladesh (June 14) in Group E of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers. – Bernama, May 28, 2022