Fourfourtwo - Former Real Madrid and Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz gave his former assistant and Malaysia’s new head coach Nelo Vingada his endorsement to shake Malaysian football up.
Vingada was appointed as Malaysia head coach in May. The 64 year-old suffered a late defeat in his first game on Tuesday as Lebanon came back from a goal down to win 2-1 in Johor in the team’s opening game in the 2019 Asian Cup final round of qualification.
“Malaysia is a country that has a lot of potential in football,” Queiroz, who recently led Iran to their first back-to-back World Cup entries in the country’s history, told FourFourTwo.
“I have been to Malaysia a few times and Malaysia is a country that needs to be shaken and Nelo is the right man to do that.”
Vingada helped Queiroz take Portugal to successive under-20 World Cups in 1989 and 1991 and was also his number two in Iran for a short time.
Apart from that, the new Malaysian boss has a wealth of experience all over the world for both clubs and national teams..
“I talk with Nelo often and I am sure he will do a great job,” added Queiroz, ex-assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
“He is a very knowledgeable coach with a lot of experience. He is already working hard to improve the team and the players will enjoy training and working with him.”
It is that experience that will stand the Portuguese in good stead in Kuala Lumpur.
“Malaysian football needs this kind of coach who can not only deal with the present but feed the federation with solutions for the future.”
Vingada took Saudi Arabia to the 1996 Asian Cup title and getting Malaysia to the tournament, either in 2019 or 2023, is the next target for the country.
The loss against Lebanon was a blow but there is still time to qualify for 2019 with games against Hong Kong and North Korea to come.
“The first step for Malaysia is the Asian Cup and this is what I told him: you can’t cut corners. It will take time. You need to be good in the region, then in Asia and then, and only then, can Malaysia start to think about the World Cup. That is in the future.”
Queiroz wants to ask Malaysian fans and media to be patient with Vingada.
“He has only been there for a few days and needs time. He is very good at bringing young players through and he will be talking with all the local coaches and everyone else involved. He already has been watching all the players and I hope he will have success.”
“Malaysia have found a good coach and if everyone works together, there will be better times ahead.”