Six-Nation uncovers faults in Malaysian team

26/01/2002

THE Six-Nation was a blessing in disguise for the national side preparing
for the 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup on Feb 24 to March 9.
It would have been utter mayhem if Malaysia dived into the World Cup
before testing their preparation level, because three big faults were
identified by Paul Lissek in the Malaysian side during the Six-Nation.
The first is their hesitancy to play all out in the first half when
playing against Australia, Holland and New Zealand.
Lissek attributed this to to "too much respect for the Europeans."
"I noticed that the national players normally freeze in the first half
when playing against European sides. This must be overcome before the
World Cup," said Lissek.
Malaysia should have beaten Olympic bronze medallist Australia and World
Cup and Olympics gold medallists Holland in the Six-Nation but ended up
sharing points and losing instead because of their hesitancy to play in
the first half.
"I think it's a psychological problem because they play better after
finding out that they can score against the best in the world but after
that, they get themselves deeper into trouble by becoming overconfident
and making silly passes and allow stupid goals," said Lissek.
After taking a 2-1 lead against Holland, a poor backpass from K. Keevan
Raj undid everything as the equaliser allowed Holland back into the match.
The second problem identified in the Six-Nation is their tendency to run
with the ball after taking a lead in the match.
"You can see for yourself that when they are building up to score a
goal, they let the ball do all the running but after taking a lead, they
start running with the ball and tire themselves in the process," said
Lissek.
This was a big problem in the Six-Nation and must be arrested early
because in the eight-team per-group World Cup, fitness will separate the
winners from the losers especially in the later part of the group matches
where Malaysia will meet easier opponents in Cuba and Poland.
The third problem is an individual one. Some of the players like Keevan,
who actually had a sterling tournament, until the back pass against
Holland and Chua Boon Huat, Jiwa Mohan and Tajol Rosli make schoolboy
errors after fighting hard to win possession of the ball.
"We will have to work on individual faults which denied us a good
placing in the Six-Nation. Some of the players need to be shown (on video)
the mistakes they make under pressure so that they will improve their
game," said Lissek.
Overall, the Six-Nation was a terrific warm-up for the Malaysian side
because now, they know their faults and, hopefully, do not make them in
the World Cup.
Against Japan today, Malaysia must not only win, but go on a scoring
spree because the men from the Land of The Rising Sun are the weakest
opponents in Group B and Malaysia should no longer struggle against them,
because time is no longer on the side of the national team.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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