Malaysia hand it to the Argentines

13/12/2001

IT was a tense night where Malaysia played like tigers but a missed
penalty stroke by S.Kuhan made Malaysia's chances of reaching the final of
the champions challenge that much harder.
Argentina were never in the match but opportunistic field goals by Jorge
Lombi was all they needed to stay in the hunt. Today, Malaysia must not
lose to South Africa while whichever team wins in the Argentina-India
clash will play in the final on Saturday.
Malaysia attacked from the start and took total control of the match
with accurate passing and stops to totally shut out Argentina. The entire
team was full of confidence and fought back ferociously when they lost the
ball.
There was an all-out effort to take an early lead and this surprised the
Argentinians because they expected Malaysia to play defensive hockey in
the fist half like they did in the wins against Japan, belgium and India.
Fifteen minutes into the match and still the men in yellow had the
lion's share of possession and attacked with passion which they have never
displayed before and there was never a doubt in the mind of the fans, that
a goal will soon follow.
And in the 19th minute, 10 Malaysian players mounted an attack and K.
gobinathan's piercing pass found K.Logan Raj, who had his back to
goalkeeper Pablo Moreira, and instead of turning, Logan de
flected the ball in for the much needed boost.
Two minutes later, coach Paul Lissek made three running substitutions at
one go because those on the pitch were giving all they had in the early
minutes of the match and were fast tiring right after breaking fast an
hour ago.
Argentina had yet to make any good move and 25 minutes into the match
they rarely went into the Malaysian semi-circle and had no penalty corners
to show so Lombi was just a passenger in the team, weighing them down by
running aimlessly on the pitch.
Malaysia won their first penalty corner in the 33rd minute and tried a
variation which was stopped by Argentinian defenders but the umpire
awarded another penalty corner.
Again, the Argentinian defenders made mistakes and a third penalty
corner was awarded. This time, Maninderjit Singh took a thundering shot
which was stopped by an Argentinian player with his boots.
The umpire blew for a penalty stroke and it was a golden opportunity for
Malaysia to increase the lead. The Malaysian players ran to the sideline
where team manager R.Yogeswaran was standing and Mirnawan Nawawi was the
only one who was walking to the spot to take the flick.
But coach Paul Lissek wanted Kuhan to take the penalty stroke instead.
Kuhan kissed the ball for good luck but his low flick was well saved by
Moreira and Malaysia threw away what normally would have been a sure goal.
Argentina came back into the match in the final minutes of the first
half and won a penalty corner but Lombi's flick was well palmed off by
goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin.
Roslan had a sterling second half too when he saved three solid attempts
at goal by Mario Almada.
In the 45th minute, Argentina sneaked in quietly from the left and
Lombi's back stick hit fooled Roslan and Argentina were on level terms.
But the fire was still burning strong in the entire Malaysian team and
they went on the offensive immediately after the restart but a handful of
players missed two across the goalmouth passes from Logan Raj.
Malaysia were down to 10 men in the 53rd minute when K.Keevan Raj
received the yellow card, his second of the tournament but still Malaysia
were in control of the match but poor finishing by Tajol Rosli, and Chua
Boon Huat was the handicap.
One minute from time, Lombi struck form and scored another field goal to
bury Malaysia.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
RESULTS
Malaysia ............... 1 Argentina ............ 2
K. Logan Raj (19th) Jorge Lombi (45th, 69th)
India .................. 3 Japan ................ 0
Deepak Thakur (35th, 65th)
Prabhjot Singh (41st)
(END)