Malaysians Defend Faiz Subri After Critics Mocked His "Broken English" At The FIFA Awards
Faiz Subri had presented his acceptance speech in English after receiving the FIFA Puskas Award in Zurich yesterday.
By Samantha Khor — 11 Jan 2017, 01:11 PM
It's a proud day for Malaysians when Kedah-born Mohd Faiz Subri won the FIFA Puskas Award, making history as the first Asian footballer to receive the goal-of-the-year accolade
Faiz Subri (right) receiving the award from presenter and Brazilian football icon Ronaldo.
Image via The SunFaiz, who plays for the Malaysian Super League side Penang, was catapulted into international stardom when a video of him scoring a physics-defying goal from a swerving free kick went viral in February last year.
The 29-year-old striker received almost 60% of the accumulated votes, beating out Brazil's Marlone and Venezuela's Daniuska Rodriguez for the award.
Faiz had some adorably awkward moments on the podium as he fumbled with his phone in search of his acceptance speech, which he presented in English
The fact that he spoke in English, apparently, did not sit well with certain quarters. Some thought he should've presented the speech in Malay, while other took their criticism further by mocking his "facepalm English".
Their negative opinions were quickly made irrelevant by Malaysians who rallied together to defend Faiz, pointing out their misguided priorities when the man had just won an esteemed international award
In fact, many of the world's best footballers such as Lionel Messi and Marouane Fellaini are not fluent in English
In a post that has gone viral, Facebook user Joe Najib pointed out that even "some of Malaysia's greatest achievers on the global stage don't have a strong command of the language"
As for why he did not speak in Malay at the awards show, Faiz has clarified that FIFA only allowed relevant football players to speak in English, Spanish, or French
This is due to the fact that the football association only provides interpreters for the aforementioned languages during the ceremony, which is telecast live around the world.
Well, who has time for haters when you just got an awesome FIFA award and a photo with your idol Cristiano Ronaldo? Congratulations again, Faiz Subri!
