All six equally balances, says Hendriks

24/07/2003

THE Spaniards escaped by the skin of their teeth against New Zealand
yesterday, and only now, their coach Maurits Hendriks believes that all
six teams in the Champions Challenge are equally balanced.
After thrashing England 6-2 in the curtain raiser of the Champions
Challenge, Hendriks practically claimed the Champions Trophy ticket, but
after losing to South Korea and scoring the winning goal against New
Zealand with five seconds left on the clock, he has started seeing things
differently.
"All the teams in the Champions Challenge have improved tremendously,
especially Malaysia who I last took a keen interest in during the Sydney
2000 Olympics," said Hendriks.
Hendriks was coaching Holland during the Sydney Olympics, and now is
helping Spain get their act together for the Olympics and World Cup
qualifiers.
"The last tine I saw Malaysia in action was during the Kuala Lumpur
World Cup (2002) and comparatively, the team has improved tremendously,"
said Hendriks.
Hendriks, who is a long-time friend of national coach Paul Lissek, said
finally he could see the handiwork of the German in the Malaysian team.
"Malaysia had a very good defensive structure, but they always lacked
forwards. But from what I saw against England today (yesterday) the team
has finally started opening up.
"I can see a solid team in the making, as when the young forwards
mature, the goals will start coming easier," said Hendriks.
The Malaysian forwards struggled to find their footing in the first
match against South Africa, and this resulted in the defence cracking up
after facing tremendous pressure.
(END)