Remember Malek Awab?

It's exactly 20 years since the vice-captain of the 1994 Dream Team lifted the Malaysia Cup and League double. The evergreen Malek was a mainstay in the national football team, and once held the record for the most number of international caps for Singapore (121 caps).

Mothership.sg catches up with the local football legend Malek Awab at his Bedok South home.

1. What are you doing now?

I am working as a sales representative for Pacific Sports Pte Ltd. We distribute sports equipment brands like Molten, Patrick, Topper, and Ashaway. You can look for me if your team needs footballs or football jerseys. I have actually been in this job for the last 30 years, even when I was playing in the Malaysia Cup, I was juggling my job with football!

2. Why didn't you go into coaching?

FAS President Mah Bow Tan returning home with the Lions after their victorious 4-0 win in the Malaysia Cup Final 1994

Actually many people have asked me the same question. In fact, Mah Bow Tan, who was President of the Football Association of Singapore, actually encouraged me to go into coaching. He said I had a wealth of experience to share and I would be able to make more money.

But for me, I am very happy in this job. I have a great boss who has been very supportive of my football, giving me time off to play for Singapore for so many years. Money really isn't the most important thing, money is a means to happiness, but I am already happy with what I have, so there is no need to change. And we already have people like Fandi, Sundram and Kadir Yahya, who are all in coaching to pass on the experience to the younger players.

3. Who's the best player you have ever played with?

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Hands down, it has got to be Fandi (Ahmad). I played with a lot of good players, Sundram, Abbas, but Fandi had everything. He had great skills, good leadership and his personality was number one.

4. You were one of the fittest players on the 1993/1994 teams. Were there other players fitter than you?

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Actually, Michael Vana was the fittest player on the team. During trainings, whenever we went on long runs, it would either be him or me coming in ahead of everyone.

5. What was Michael Vana like?

He was a very quiet guy so we didn't really have much to say. He lived near me so sometimes I would give him a lift home after training and we would have dinner together. Whatever that happened in personal life, I have no wish to comment, but I always found him to be a very nice, soft-spoken guy.

6. So you were basically the fittest local player at that time. Have you ever participated in a marathon?

(Laughs) No I haven't. The distance (42km) is too long! You see, Football is my thing. Football fitness is very different from running fitness. When I was in school, I was a badminton player and a runner, I represented my school for the 800 metres and 1500 metres track events, but those are very different from running 42km. Do you know I never represented my school in football?

(Weixiang: Oh?)

Yes. I was never selected. I think the coaches felt I was too small-sized. But after I finished vocational school at 16. I went to play for Farrer Park United in the National Football League. That's how I got into football. I didn't come through the system.

7. What's your Dream Singapore First Xi line-up (with you in it)?

It's hard for me to pick only 11. I will have to go with 13.

Goalkeeper - David Lee

Defenders - Kadir Yahaya/Sudiat Dali, Lim Tong Hai, Razali Saad, Borhan Abu Samah/Ishak Saad

Midfielders - Rafi Ali/Nazri Nasir, Malek Awab, Lee Man Hon (if he's fit :)) Saswadimata Dasuki

Forwards - Fandi Ahmad & V Sundramoorthy

8. Who were your best friends on the Dream Team?

Kadir Yahaya is now with Lions XII.

I was very very close to Kadir. He would always be my roommate. But to be honest I was close to everyone on the team. Fandi was the Captain and I was the Vice-Captain. I took it upon myself to be a 'brother' to the players.

I always made sure that everyone had enough food. If there wasn't enough food for everyone, I would go out to buy extra food for them. When the team went on tour to New Zealand in 1995 , lunch was not provided on the first day we arrived, so I got the young players like Man Hon and Saswadimata Dasuki to help me and we went to buy Fish & Chips for everyone. We went around to all the rooms to distribute the food and made sure everyone had enough to 'makan' because we had training later on in the day.

9. How good a coach was Douglas Moore?

Douglas Moore was a coach who understood the players. He was a fatherly figure who tried his best to listen to us. I give you an example. Sometimes when we had training, it would be very very hot but there would be one part of the field which would be in the shade, so we would ask him if we could move our training into the shade and he was agree and say "Yah, that's better, lets do that." So under Douglas Moore, the morale in the team was high.

But to be honest, we have to give credit to coach Ken Worden (who left just before the season started). Most of our preparations for the season was actually done by him. Ken Worden wasn't as popular as Douglas Moore with the players because he was a very tough coach. His training sessions were gruelling and he could be very critical of the players. He expected a lot but as a result we were very very fit and a lot of us improved. We didn't like him but we respected him because he was a coach who would participate in the exercises himself. Before he asked us to run 5km, he would run the 5km himself.

10. What was going through your mind when you were recording the dream team song?

(Laughs) Haha it was quite a silly song wasn't it. But you know, the Malaysia Cup was so big then so we saw it as a way to reach out to the fans, and the fans loved it. We know that are not professional singers, some of us sounded like cockroaches, or sung out of tune, but we saw it as doing our part for the team, and repaying the fans.

11. Singapore Football hasn't had the best of years. What would you like to see happen in the football scene?

I think we all know the S.League hasn't been doing very well and it's going to get tougher. So I think management wise, we need new ideas. We cannot keep having "Yes-men Yes-men." I don't want to comment too much because I have been out for many years already.

For me, what I would really like to see is more opportunities being given to local coaches. You only need to look at the recently concluded AFF Suzuki Cup. The two teams in the finals, Thailand and Malaysia were all coached by former players - Dollah Salleh and Kiatisuk Senamuang. My dream line up would be: Fandi Ahmad as National Coach, Sundram as Lions XII Coach and Kadir Yahya as technical director.

Top photo by Lim Weixiang.

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