Juniors salvage some pride

14/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: For Malaysia, it was a face-saving draw but as far as Germany
coach Uli Forstner is concerned, the 2-2 draw in their Junior World Group
D match yesterday was gifted to the national team.
While Malaysia, after the 5-0 whipping by Argentina, played reasonably
better, Forstner couldn't be blamed for feeling piqued at his players as
Germany led 2-0 at one stage.
Still, it seemed that the Germans brought out something extra from the
Malaysians who played with more urgency and cohesion at the Tasmanian
Hockey Centre.
Perhaps whatever consultant coach Paul Lissek told them upon arrival
here did something to the players.
But Lissek's magic was not instantaneous, because when the first half
ended, Malaysia were down 1-0 and by the 43rd minute, they were two down
and looked to be heading for another whipping.
But the juniors, after flattering only to deceive, finally showed
fighting spirit to come back and snatch a point, something Forstner, who
is normally calm and composed, found hard to accept.
Germany won their first penalty corner in the 11th minute and Max
Landshut scooped high into the roof of the net to beat goalkeeper Firdaus
Razali, who replaced Saiful Azhar who was rested after bad outings against
New Zealand and Argentina.
If anything, the goal resulted in Malaysia defending better with Firdaus
making a number of good saves.
In fact, the defenders and Firdaus have to work extra hard as the
forwardline was out of the match for long periods and play was
concentrated mostly in the Malaysian half.
After the break, Florian Keller hammered in the second goal off a
penalty corner set-piece in the 43rd minute.
But the Germans couldn't find a way past Malaysia again after that and
to their credit, the Malaysians played much better this.
In the 47th minute, Malaysia won a penalty corner in one of their rare
forays into the German semicircle.
Skipper Chua Boon Huat made no mistake with a well placed push and
Malaysia were back in the game.
The Malaysians showed more maturity in their game after that and started
attacking with vengeance.
There were plenty of misses before Jivan Mohan sent the ball to his
brother Jiwa, who had the simple task of slotting past goalkeeper Ulli
Bubloz in the 62nd minute.
The Germans were lost for ideas after that and Malaysia took the
opportunity to control the match but could not find the winner and walked
away with their first point in the World Cup.
"Last night (Friday), Paul Lissek showed us a video of the German team
and pointed out weaknesses in individual players and we capitalised on the
information and performed better," said Chua.
"There was intense pressure on the team to do well after a long and
costly preparation, so during the first two matches we could not focus."
"There was intense pressure on the team to do well after a long and
costly preparation, so during the first two matches we could not focus.
Maybe now that we are more settled, ninth placing will not be a problem
to achieve," said Chua.
It is a pity that the players are now loking forward to ninth placing
when a top-four was what most expected.
GROUP B
SOUTH KOREA .... 4 SOUTH AFRICA .... 3
HOLLAND ....... 2 FRANCE .......... 0 GROUP D
MALAYSIA .... 2 GERMANY ......... 2
ARGENTINA .... 3 NEW ZEALAND ..... 0
Jugjet@nstp.com.my
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