Hammering for Malaysia

16/06/2002

GERMANY ...... 7 MALAYSIA .... 1
ARGENTINA .... 4 SPAIN ....... 3
AS predicted, Malaysia crumbled against world champions Germany 7-1 in the
opening match of the Hamburg Masters in Germany on Friday.
But TimeSport's preview of the Masters, with the heading "Malaysia
headed for another hammering" came under criticism from some with the
www.fieldhockey.com webmaster taking the lead.
The webmaster commented on the article: "A bit of a harsh headline for a
National Squad to face before they have even started a Tour. Having
recently slaughtered the governing body in their Sports pages, just who do
the New Straits Times support in Malaysian Hockey?" was flashed at the
www.field-hockey.com website.
Malaysia next face Spain and the outcome is predictable, although this
time the score should not be so high.
On Friday, Germany were 3-0 up 18 minutes into play through Matthias
Witthaus (11th), Bjoern Michel (15th) and captain Florian Kunz (18th).
For Michel, it was double joy as he scored in his 250th match for
Germany.
Sascha Reinelt (26th) and Christian Domke (34th) made it a great first
half and it seemed that doub;le figures was what Malaysia were looking at.
In the second half, Malaysia defended better and even managed to score
one goal when K. Keevan Raj sounded the board in the 40th minute.
But the Germans, who went into a temporary lull, woke from their slumber
and scored two more goals. This time it was Christoph Bechmann in the 59th
and Witthaus got his second goal of the match in the 70th minute.
In another match, Argentina beat Spain 4-3 in a highly entertaining
match.
The Spaniards struck first through Alberto Sala and Xavier Ribas but
Argentina got back into the match with a Mario Almada goal. Xavier Ribas
increased the lead for Spain but Argentina midfielder Toma Mac-Cormik
narrowed the gap to 2-3 as the half-time horn blew.
After the breather, the South Americans got off to a lightning start in
the first minute itself when Ezequiel Paulon sounded the board to
equalise.
The match winner was Lucas Cammareri who scored in the 57th minute.
(END)