No cigars for Lissek's men

05/03/2002

THE Cubans almost upset an overconfident Malaysia in Group B at the
National Hockey Stadium last night as the hosts decided to take a rest
after a stunning display against the English.
Sloppy passing and poor stopping, unlike the Malaysia which we all know,
disappointed the 10,000-odd crowd which started trickling in after the
office hours.
It was almost like a staged drama, and ironically next door to the
hockey stadium, `The Rock' and his mean machine were getting warmed up to
stage a wrestling drama, and Malaysia entertained their fans with clownish
mistakes which, in any other situation, would have sent the fans in
stitches.
But the silver lining is that with the three points, Malaysia are
assured of finishing at least eighth in the World Cup. Japan, who are in
the same group as the hosts, had earlier shocked England 2-1.
Malaysia started off badly and conceded an eighth minute goal when too
much space was given to Jose M. Rodriguez who dribbled past the entire
defence and scored a goal from an acute angle.
Roslan Jamaluddin was not his usual self and the blame for the goal lay
entirely on him and Maninderjit Singh who gave away the ball to Rodriguez
with a poor pass across the goalmouth.
Maninderjit looked lethargic and made a number of bad passes. Maybe the
dehydration he suffered after giving 100 per cent against England the
previous day took its toll on defender.
But a stunning goal from Chairil Anwar two minutes later gave hope of a
high scoring match. Malaysia won a penalty corner and S. Kuhan took a
thundering shot which was heading towards goal but Chairil made sure by
jabbing his stick and the ball crashed into the net. Malaysia 1 Cuba 1.
But six minutes later, Yuneil Rodriguez Hernandez did a copycat and
weaved his way near the goalline before putting it past Roslan. Malaysia 1
Cuba 2.
That was a costly mistake because the Cubans grew in confidence after
this.
Malaysia pulled up their socks and in the 24th minute, Fairuz Ramly
connected a pass from Mirnawan Nawawi and Malaysia were back in the game.
But poor passing and silly mistakes riddled the match and the Cubans
were as amazed as the crowd because the hosts were giving them too much of
space to move and a handful of Cubans had the field all to themselves.
Malaysia trooped into the dressing room with their heads hung low and
coach Paul Lissek must have handed them a lashing because they started the
second half on a better note.
And four minutes into the match, Malaysia won a penalty corner and the
crowd went wild anticipating a goal. Kuhan did not disappoint them and his
goal brought back some pride to the match.
But after that, Malaysia started clowning again and the Cubans had a
field day running circles around the Malaysian defenders. In the end,
everyone agreed that Malaysia were lucky to have scraped through.
RESULTS AT A GLANCE
GROUP B
MALAYSIA 4 CUBA 2
Chairil Anwar (10th) Jose Rodriguez Garcia (8th)
Mohd Fairuz Ramly (25th) Yuniel Rodriguez (15th)
S. Kuhan (29th, 39th)
JAPAN 2 ENGLAND 1
Takahiko Yamahori (18th,24th) Dave Matthew (65th)
INDIA 4 POLAND 1
Daljit Singh (5th) Tomasz Choczaj (27th)
Baljit Singh Dhillon (15th)
Prabjot Singh (28th)
Dhanraj Pillay (69th)
AUSTRALIA 4 SOUTH KOREA 2
Scott Webster (8th) Song Seung-tae (28th)
Troy Elder (14th) Lee Jung-seong (62nd)
Jeremy Hiskins (42nd, 43rd)
(END)