Can we play soccer?

When I was a school boy, I remember, we used to talk about our national soccer team and specially about our goalkeeper who supposedly was a super guy. I think in the 1960s the soccer was quite popular in Mongolia.

Names like Pele and Yaashin were familiar to us. But let's leave the history alone and talk about the future. Even though an official Soccer (or Football) organization was established in 1959, there was not much done until today. Football has become less popular then basketball. Mongolia joined the FIFA and the AFC in 1998, but still don't have a good competitive national team and even an acceptable stadium which meets the international standards.

Good news is that FIFA is helping us to build a new stadium and the very President, Mr. Blatter and the President of AFC, Mr. Hammam, have  visited Mongolia to inaugurate the new mini-stadium. What we need is to work on how we can learn to play a good soccer. Hopefully Mr.Ganbold B., the President of Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) , has some ideas as to what needs to be done in order to be successful. At least in Asia. That should be the goal in near future. I am not "asking" too much, am I?

What do we need to do? Let me share some  ideas and we can discuss it here. I urge my fellow soccer fans to come up with ideas and suggestions regarding this question. I think we need:

1.  a good coach (trainer)

2.  a professional team (national team)

3.  a nice, modern stadium

Let's start with number ONE. Everybody agrees that a good trainer is necessary by all means. But who is it gonna be? I would suggest that we need to hire a good trainer from abroad. I say "good " trainer because the "best" would be more expensive. Once we got "rich" then we can afford the best trainer.

My pick is Germany. I think we don't need a bunch  of player who prefer the individual play. We need to learn how to play as a team  because soccer (football) is a team sport.  We need a team which can play with discipline and tactic. The Germans are good at it and that's why they are so successful. In men's and women's alike. I think it is not necessary to prove  because everybody knows how Germans play always good soccer.  It might be not cheap, but like I said we don't need the best one for now. We just need a coach with enough experiences to teach us how to "deal" with the ball and how to play smart and organized.

Let's go to number TWO. We need a professional team, not some amateur players who play soccer as a "part time job". That means we must have some guys who are dedicated and talented. Paid professional soccer player . They can play for their home clubs in the championship but they must be working "full time" under the supervision of the national team coach throughout the year. I think that would be the only option to have a team at some level prepared and trained to compete internationally until we have a professional football league and more pro players to choose from.

Number THREE. As we know FIFA and AFC are helping us financially to build a mini-stadium and that is very much appreciated. But we do need a good sized stadium where also international sporting events can be organized except football matches.

All these sweet dreams will not come true if we don't have the money. We need to find ways how we can get the money. The government and the MFF must think about it seriously and work together. One needs to find donors, sponsors and ask for help from various organisations, domestic and abroad. I think our Mongolian companies would gladly donate and support own national team  financially if MFF can manage good talks and arrangements. Internationally we can also get help, even in other form than financially, if we request help from professional organisations in developed countries. There is nothing to be ashamed of. We need to have a good manager who can organize all this. It's gonna be lots of talks, meetings and paperwork, plus necessary visits abroad, which would cost some money but the end result can be huge and highly valuable for Mongolian football.

We need to act now and if we keep being passive like today, having some amateurs represent the country, without any success, then we will never see the Mongolian national team playing in the World championship representing Asia. That should be the primary goal of MFF. It's not something like going to the Mars. We can do this! I want to see us playing in the World Championship while I am alive!
No kidding!