I’ve always admired any teams or players that handle adversity with the greatest of sportsmanship, like my interest in short players who do well on the pitch. Aerial power might be of their misfortune but still they are able to steal the show with dazzling performance on ground. 

Some of you might only know about Lionel Messi (1.69m), Cesc Fabregas (1.77m) Deco (1.74m), Theo Walcott (1.75m) and Sergio Aguero (1.69m) as prime paradigm of petite players who make a big break in modern football, but history has it that this is a trend tracks decades ago. 

World of football used to have the greatest Diego Maradona (1.65m) and underrated Garrincha (1.69m) whom dubbed as the joy of the people, credited to his dribbling prowess and dead ball specialty. What about the fox in the box Romario (1.69m) who scored 1000 goals in his career, a feat only Pele had done and Roberto Carlos (1.69m) who was famous for his curl freekick passed Fabien Barthez (1.83m), whom is also short for a goalkeeper but had a World Cup, European Cup and a record of 10 World Cup games clean sheets. 

I’m sure there are more when you think about it – Michael Owen (1.73m), Italy World Cup winner captain Fabio Cannavaro (1.76m), the newly appointed Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola (1.66m), Gennaro ‘Rhino’ Gattuso (1.77m) and so much more. 

So Akmal Rizal (1.70m), Norhafiz Zamani Misbah (1.72m), Hardi Jaafar (1.65m), Safee Sali (1.72m) should take note and learn something, and don’t give another lousy reason not to do well. So does Shukor Adan (1.85m) who should be ashamed of himself. 

I have to say while their intelligence on the field outplay their physique is a worth of note, credit should also be given to the coaches who spot these gems and the risk they took in fielding these vertically handicapped players. 

Maybe it is directly in the case of Arsene Wenger whom I regard as the best manager in the world of football. Whilst his trophy room still has lots of empty spaces, his ability to spot talents is beyond magic. How the hell he discovered Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Aliaksandr Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Kolo Toure and turned them to become world class players?

Maybe he should come to Malaysia to scout for local talents. I am sure we have yet to unearth our new Mokhtar Dahari. I am sure he is somewhere around and need to be discovered.

And Arsenal is not the richest of football club, but of potential. So FAM take note. 

If they can do it, so can us. So can Shukor Adan.

Size doesn’t matter. Well, in football lah. Lucah lah you.