Inspiring Malaysia take lead

09/12/2001

MALAYSIA beat Belgium 2-0 at the national hockey stadium in Bukit Jalil to
edge closer to the Champions Trophy ticket.
Goals from Chairil Anwar and Rodhanizam Radzi yesterday was enough for
Malaysia to collect six points from two matches and sit pretty at the top
of the table.
Their next opponents are India on Monday and by the look of things, they
have worked out a good strategy of taking control of the first half and
only attacking in the second.
Malaysia, like they did against Japan in the first match, again played
cautiously and were happy to have the lion's share in ball possession
against Belgium. It was a very tactical game where good and accurate
passes from fullbacks Maninderjit Singh and Nor Azlan Bakar saw Malaysia
in total control.
But in midfield, S.Kuhan was not his normal self and that was the reason
why Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Deneumostier was not tested at all in the
first half. On the Malaysian side goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin was not
forced to make a single save in the first half.
Mirnawan was not on the starting-11 and only made his presence felt 10
minutes into the match. But he too, was very cautious and was not The Boss
who everyone knows.
In the 12th minute, Kuhan passed the ball to Rodhanizam who found K.
Logan Raj on the left side of the semicircle. Logan took a powerful back
stick hit which missed by inches.
The best attempt in the fist half was by Tajol Rosli when he deflected
Chua Boon Huat's free hit, from the top of the semicircle. The ball sailed
centimetres above the bar.
The first half ended on a boring note with Malaysia feeling contended
with just having possession, but all that changed as the second half
whistle was blown.
Malaysia came out firing on all cylinders and threw caution to the wind
as they mobbed the Belgium semicircle. And in the 37th minute, Keevan sent
in a ball which looked like it was going to sail past the goalmouth but
Chairil stretched out just enough to deflect the ball in. Umpire
Toschimichi Fujimura from Japan blew for goal but the Belgium players
started crowding him protesting that the ball had actually hit Chairil's
boot before going in.
Toschimichi was adamant and ran to the center and pointed for a restart
as the second umpire, Blaise Monteiro from India, tried to calm the
situation by asking the Belgium players to play the game.
Belgium reluctantly re-started and the match turned robust after that
but Malaysia kept up the pressure and won their first penalty corner of
the match in the 52nd minute. But the ball was not stopped dead and
Belgium were let off the hook.
The forwards, Mirnawan, Chairil, and Logan started playing very well
with eight minutes remaining on the clock, but were unlucky because their
attempts were well saved by Deneumostier.
With ten minutes left on the clock, the Belgium goalmouth was swamped by
a sea of yellow as Malaysia went all out to increase the lead and were a
total contrast to the timid team which played in the first half.
And it worked when Rodhanizam scored a brilliant goal in the 63rd minute
after a solo run by Tajol on the right. Tajol controlled the ball with one
hand while running and passed it to Rodhanizam who made a cross to Logan
but it deflected off a Belgium defender's stick and went into goal.
Coach Paul Lissek was very happy with the six points but feels that
there is still room for improvement.
"We have had a very good start in the Champions Challenge, and as the
records show, we have not conceded a single goal and scored three.
"This is very good for our World Cup preparations because this young
team can only grow in confidence with every match," said Lissek.
The German feels that by the time this tournament is over, there will be
some shape in the team.
"Give them some time to grow, and the results will start coming in."
RESULTS
Malaysia.............. 2 Belgium............ 0
Chairil Anwar (37th)
Rodhanizam Radzi (63rd)
South Africa.......... 2 India.............. 2
Justin King (10th) Jugraj Singh (9th)
Craig Fulton (60th) Deepak Thakur (17th)
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)