Malaysia need to be riled up to perform well

05/12/2001

MALAYSIAN hockey players play better when they are provoked or under
tremendous pressure to deliver, if not they just go about their business
with no urgency at all.
In the second friendly against Argentina at the National Hockey Stadium
in Bukit Jalil on Monday, the entire team played like they were possessed
and it was pleasing to watch them chase every ball and improvise on what
they have learnt in training.
On Monday, they went all out to prove Argentina coach Jorge Ruiz wrong
on his assessment of the team after the frist friendly.
Ruiz said Malaysia lacked deadly forwards after the first friendly, but
he was proven wrong when four different players sent the ball at the back
of the Argentine goalmouth.
S. Kuhan, Tajol Rosli, Maninderjit Singh and Rodhanizam Radzi made sure
we won the friendly comfortably.
"I am very pleased with how the entire team played because they is more
understanding among the players right now. They also made some solo moves
which caught the Argentines on the wrong foot," said Lissek after the
match.
Maninderjit's goal was the surprise of the match because the burly
defender normally uses his thundering grounder whenever he goes up for a
penalty corner. But on Monday, he scooped the ball and caught Argentine
goalkeeper Pablo Moreira by surprise.
"This is the kind of play that I look forward to. Nowdays, the
opposition normally do their homework by watching how the other team plays
on video. So when a player does something different, they are caught off
guard," said Lissek.
The Champions Challenge is seen as an appetiser for the 2002 Kuala
Lumpur World Cup on Feb 24-March 9 because if the team do well in the
Challenge, the Malaysian hockey fans will not mind forking out RM25 per-
match to watch them play.
But if they go back to their normal `tidak apa' attitude, it will be
hard to fill the stands of the Bukit Jalil Stadium with locals.
But Lissek also cautioned everybody not to read too much from the
friendlies, because in a tournament proper anything can happen.
"Argentina are a very good side and in the friendlies they did not have
Jorge Lombi for support. Lombi is among the best penalty corner
specialists in the world right now and we need to stop him if we want to
see results," said Lissek.
Lombi will definitely be a joy to watch because in the World Cup
Qualifier in Edinburgh in July, he played a sterling role to make sure
Argentina finish tops and qualify for the 2002 Kuala Lumour World Cup in
style.
In the final of the Qualifier, a brilliant Lombi hat-trick (12th, 60th
and 67th) helped Argentina beat Spain 5-4.
The Challenge begins on Friday and Malaysia play their opening match
against Japan at 8pm at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
After that it is Belgium on Saturday and on Dec 10 we meet India and two
days later, Malaysia play Argentina. The match against South Africa is on
Dec 13.
A win against Japan and Belgium will definitely start the ball rolling
but if we fail in the first two matches, it will hader to put up a decent
fight against India and Argentina who are piped as the early favourites
for the final.
* jugjet@nstp.com.my
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