Mirnawan good as gold

20/09/1998

MALAYSIA ... 1 INDIA .... 0 (in sudden-death)IT was a dramatic and historic win for Malaysia when birthday boy MirnawanNawawi scored the golden goal in extra time, the only goal in the matchagainst powerhouse India to qualify for the final at the National HockeyStadium yesterday. The hosts now face Australia in the final. Malaysia earned their third penalty corner in the 77th minute andMirnawan, who turned 27 yesterday, deflected a grounder from S. Kuhan andthe ball rolled through a sea of legs and into the net. When the score was tied at 0-0 after regulation time, India took thegame to the Malaysians in extratime but failed to find the net and a quickcounter attack saw Malaysia earning two penalty corners in quicksuccession. Malaysia tried to play an attacking game but they did not get a singleshot at the Indian goal in the first 35 minutes. In the second half, theyhad a better share of the attack but still the Indian defence held tight. Most of their attempts streaked past the Indian goalmouth without anytakers. Rookie Suhaimi Ibrahim could not anticipated crosses from NorSaiful Zaini from the right or from Mirnawan Nawawi on the left. Malaysia's only two good chances in the first half saw Chairil AnwarAziz nearly connecting a free hit and another long corner. At the other end, India's speedy forward Dhanraj Pillay and left wingerBaljit Singh were giving the Malaysian defence and goalkeeper RoslanJamaluddin a horrid time. Baljit had two clear chances to put the former world champions andolympic champions in the lead when on both occasions, he was unmarked onthe left. But on both occasions, he sent the ball wide. By the second half, India were reading Malaysia's game like an openbook. They anticipated every cross and effectively cut them off. India almost went one up in the 54th minute, when one of their penaltycorners bounced off Roslan, who was sprawled on the ground, and the ballwent over the crossbar. Malaysia's rare chances came in the 48th minute when Lam Mun Fatt hadonly the goalkeeper to beat with a waist high ball but he fumbled. With India dominating, there were many heart-stopping moments. With just five minutes remaining in regulation time, there were noplayers left in the Indian half. They kept Malaysia under pressure andearned two fruitless penalty corners bringing the tally to eight comparedto Malaysia's one. A salute to Malaysia for absorbing the Indian onslaught. Malaysia'sexcellent defence, spearheaded by Roslan, kept Malaysia in the game. Malaysia held on to keep it scoreless. And in extratime, their moment ofGames glory came. Malaysia: Roslan Jamaluddin, Maninderjit Singh, S. Kuhan, Nor AzlanBakar, Chairil Anwar Aziz, R. Shankar, M. Kaliswaran, Nor Saiful Zaini, K.Keevan Raj, Mirnawan Nawawi, Calvin Fernandez, Suhaimi Ibrahim, Chua BoonHuat, K. Logan Raj, Lam Mun Fatt, Nasihin Nubli. India: Jude Menezes, Lazarus Barla, Baljeet Singh Saini, Mohammed Riaz,Selvaraj Thirumal Valavan, N. Mukesh Kumar, Sabu Varkey, Dhanraj Pillay,Baljit Singh Dhillon, Dilipkumar Tirkey, Ramandeep Singh Grewal, LaxmananPrabhakar, Gagan Ajit Singh, Cheops M. D'Costa, Daljit Singh Dhillion, A.B. Subbaiah.