Kuala Lumpur, 8 MAY 1998 - The Malaysian senior football squad received yet another humiliation after being trashed 5-0 by the Pakistani Under-12 squad in the Four-Nations Cup. Prior to this, Malaysia were beaten 6-0 by hosts USA, which paraded a team averaging 13 year-olds.

Speaking from Wisma FAM in Petaling Jaya, FAM spokesman Mr. Kelen Tong said:

"During those two matches, our gameplay was seriously slow and jerky, while the opponents were lightning fast. That is why we were ruthlessly outplayed. Even getting the ball past the midfield mark was nearly impossible."

When asked to comment on the reason for the team's poor performance despite having undergone intensive training, he replied:

"We lack the proper resources for a tournament like this. Skill and technique-wise, we are good enough to beat anyone in the world. Unfortunately, our equipment was badly outdated and hopelessly inadequate, not to say improper!"

Malaysia will play the England Under-14 tomorrow and Mr. Kelen Tong ensured that Malaysia will definitely play a lot better and will be gunning for nothing less than a victory.

"We have placed orders for the latest 56K modems with MMX support and the SideWinder Pro Gamepad which we expect to receive by noon today. Previously, we were only using 14.4K modems and faulty joysticks ... that was why we could not reveal our true potential. Anyway, FIFA 98 was never meant to be played on joysticks and the new gamepads will surely give us a good advantage."

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