Juniors fall to Kiwis again

20/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Tasmania

HOBART: Malaysia threw everything they had in the last 15 minutes of the
match but it was not good enough against New Zealand in the classification
matches of the Junior World Cup at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre in Hobart
yesterday.
But by the look of things, they never had a chance, and the writing was
on the wall even before Malaysia took to the field.
After France had beaten South Africa with a 74th minute golden goal,
national chief coach Paul Lissek predicted that Malaysia will next play
South Africa for the 11-12th spot. And he has been spot on.
It was the same old Malaysian side that played a defensive game with
backpasses being the order of the day in the first half while New Zealand
had a field day in the Malaysian semicircle.
Hayden Shaw, the 6-foot-five-inch giant in defence kept the Malaysian
strikers at bay, and it looked like most of the Malaysian players still
feared him after their 3-2 loss in the first round.
Yesterday, Malaysia went down to an identical 3-2 score and New Zealand
were 3-0 up by the 54th minute before the Juniors woke up and put up a
spirited display. But it was a push too late and now they will be playing
for the 11-12th placing against South Africa today.
Coach Yahya Atan, trying to bring out the best in a mentally weak team,
played Mohamed Amin Rahim at the back and S. Shanker in midfield but it
only made things worse because both the players love to make dangerous
backpasses and yesterday, their tendency benefitted the Kiwis who stole
most of the backpasses and put the Malaysian defence in trouble.
Only some good goalkeeping by Mohamed Firdaus kept the score 0-0 in the
first 20 minutes.
But the gate was prised open by Mark Lawrence in the 26th minute when,
after pushing the ball in for a penalty corner, he remained on the goal
line and connected in a simple goal for the lead.
Then came the towering Shaw who hammered in penalty corners in the 48th
and 54th minutes. And it looked like Malaysia were in for a whipping but
that somehow woke them up and they came charging back and pinned New
Zealand in their own semicircle for the last 15 minutes.
Chua Boon Huat scored a field goal in the 58th minute and Mohamed Fairuz
Ramli narrowed the gap in the 67th minute, but by then, even the clock was
with the Kiwis.
With 20 seconds left in the match, Chua crossed the ball from the left
of the goalmouth and it sailed past six New Zealand players, with even the
Kiwi goalkeeper misjudging it, and at the end of the line was Tajol Rosli.
Tajol made a gallant dive to connect the ball into goal, but missed it
by a few centimeters and it was all over for Malaysia.
"We lost because the runners in the penalty corners were slow, and
sometimes even looked reluctant to make a charge," said Yahya. RESULTS
SEMIFINALS
INDIA.......... 3 GERMANY....... 2
ARGENTINA...... 3 ENGLAND....... 1
CLASSIFICATION (9th-12th)
NEW ZEALAND.... 3 MALAYSIA...... 2
FRANCE......... 1 SOUTH AFRICA.. 1
(France win by golden goal)
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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