COMMENT | One of the main problems with Malaysian football is that, as a nation, we are unable to fathom and accept the uneasy truth and reality of where we are and where we sit in the global football standings.

By almost all footballing measures, we are exactly where we should be, and it is just our collective inability to accept reality as well as illusions of grandeur that fail us and keep us rooted to where we are.

The facts:

- We are currently and rightly ranked 154 of 210 nations in the FIFA World rankings.

- Our only recent achievements are winning the AFF Championship in 2010 and qualifying for the Asia Cup in 2007 (We were co-hosts).

- We struggled at the World/Asia Cup Qualifiers, winning one of four matches.

- We did not make the Semi-Finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

The recent results in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 were seen from the public eye as a failing of the national team and the FA, but if we were to look at it objectively, being the fifth or sixth-best team in the Asean region is probably right.

Which measure or metrics makes us feel that we are on par or even ahead of the likes of Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines as a footballing country?