Hosts held as Lissek goes for mother's funeral

18/02/2002

A PALL of gloom hung over the heads of the national players last night
during their first friendly match against New Zealand at the National
Hockey Stadium.
While they were battling against the Kiwis, chief coach Paul Lissek was
on his way to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a flight to
Germany to attend the funeral of his aged mother.
Team manager Datuk R. Yogeswaran accompanied Lissek to the airport and
said in a telephone interview: "Paul's mother passed away in Germany and
he is going home to attend the funeral. He will be back as soon as
possible."
The World Cup starts on Sunday and Lissek's absence will be a huge blow
to Malaysia's last minute brushing up for the big day.
In Lissek's absence, Stephen van Huizen took charge of the team and in
the first minute, Mohamed Fairuz Ramli found the mark after pouncing on a
Mirnawan Nawawi rebound.
Malaysia played well but in the 11th minute, a lapse in concentration
saw the Kiwis back on level terms. A tame pass from Phillip Burrows found
David Kosoof and he only had to tap in to score.
The hosts were awarded five penalty corners in a spell of 20 minutes but
all were wasted by S. Kuhan.
Malaysia hardly had any decent attempts at the New Zealand goal and the
Kiwis also held back and treated the match as a warm-up for the World Cup.
S. Shanker was the only Malaysian player who did not play yesterday as
he was still recovering from a back muscle strain.
In the second half, Malaysia concentrated on their passing but in the
44th minute were jolted out of their slumber when Alpesh Puna, a late
replacement for the injured Bret Lever, dribbled past four Malaysian
players to score.
But three minutes later, Chairil Anwar equalised after receiving a
through pass from defender Maninderjit Singh.
Halfway into the second half, K. Gobinathan was floored by a ball which
connected his left calf. He limped out and was a spectator for the
reminder of the match.
Malaysia play Pakistan in their friendly match at the National Hockey
Stadium in Bukit Jalil at 6pm.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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