It's not often that a Malaysian player gets mentioned in the same breath as David Beckham. But Faiz Subri's feat in winning the FIFA Puskas Award had his Penang coach Ashley Westwood reminiscing about his days playing alongside the world's most famous footballer more than two decades ago.
On Monday night, Faiz Subri became the first Asian to be honoured for his scoring feats at the FIFA World Football Awards after his knuckleball free kick against Pahang from February was named goal of the year.
The set piece produced the kind of bend and swerve once associated with former England captain Beckham, inspiring the popular 2002 film, Bend It Like Beckham.