KUALA LUMPUR: For beating the "Monster" who is touted as the best centre-back in the world and scoring an audacious goal, Faisal Halim may find himself nominated for the prestigious Puskas Award.
The Puskas Award recognises the best goal in the world, and winger Faisal Halim's enthralling strike against South Korea in an Asian Cup match which ended 3-3 in Doha on Thursday is worthy of a nomination.
Nicknamed Mickey for his diminutive stature, Faisal was up against the imposing Bayern Munich defender Kim Min Jae, aka the Monster.
And it was the feisty Faisal who took the mickey out of Min Jae. The 1.58m Malaysian escaped a sliding block from the imposing 1.9m Korean with a clever body feint before scampering away towards the end line. And when the scoring chance seemed to be fading with Korean goalkeeper Jo Hyeon Woo closing the gap at the near post, Faisal dragged the ball back, made a turn and cheekily scooped the ball past the onrushing Hyeon Woo and Min Jae from an acute angle for a spectacular goal.
Faisal's famous goal also earned him a slot in the "Best XI" in the Asian Cup final group stage rounds with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) captioning it "When magic happens" on its social media.
FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman said it is up to AFC to nominate Faisal's goal for the Puskas Award.
"For now the Asian Cup is still going on, and we will accept any decision made by AFC."
In 2017, former Penang player Faiz Subri won Fifa's Puskas Award for his "physics-defying" free-kick goal against Pahang in a Super League match in 2016.
