Nightmare for Malaysia

20/07/2003

IT was a nightmare beginning for Malaysia in the Champions Challenge as
they were greeted with one red card, one yellow and two soft goals - which
presented hosts South Africa the perfect opening match at the Randburg
Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Malaysia had a good grip of the match until Madzli Ikmar was flashed the
yellow, followed by a red card for Chua Boon Huat minutes later. And the
match was lost.
Chua received a one-match suspension and will not feature against New
Zealand today.
The Malaysians entered the pitch oozing with confidence, and after a
long spell, looked like they were going for a win.
The young forwards - Tajol Rosli, Azlan Misron and P. Prabahkaran -
ripped the South African defence apart, but good goalkeeping by Dave
Staniforth stood in their way.
After numerous pressing attacks, Malaysia took the lead from a penalty
corner in the third minute.
Skipper S. Kuhan sent a low ball, which went crashing into the net and
silenced the 1,000-odd fans.
While the forwards became bolder, Malaysia's defenders cracked under
pressure, allowing the South African strikers too much space for which and
they were punished with a penalty corner.
Justin King sent a low flick on the left of goalkeeper Roslan Jamaludin
and South Africa were back in the match.
Malaysia had 70 per cent possession in the last few minutes of the first
half but the umpire failed to check on dangerous stick-checks employed by
the South Africans, and the score remained.
After the restart, the national team kept up the pressure and got their
break in the 39th minute. But K. Gobinathan's low shot did not connect at
the other end.
The South Africans became frustrated started shoving our players around.
In the 49th minute, Charl van der Merwe was sent to the sin-bin for a bad
tackle on Madzli Ikmar and Malaysia started pressing forward more
urgently.
But just as Merwe came back into the match, Madzli Ikmar was sent to the
sin-bin. South Africa were awarded with a penalty corner which was tucked
in by King for the lead.
To make matters worse, Chua Boon Huat was flashed the red card after he
lifted his stick too high, which caught the face of South Africa's Ken
Forbes.
Malaysia, reduced to nine players, now had a mammoth task of finding the
equaliser.
South Africa pulled further ahead in the 53rd minute when Emile Smith
sounded the board after a mistake by Malaysian defenders.
In the first match of the day, South Korea were held 0-0 by a fighting
New Zealand but there was an element of good news for Malaysia, who face
the Kiwis today.
The towering Kiwi penalty corner specialist Hayden Shaw was used
sparingly in the first half due to a stomach strain.
"We will field him against Malaysia today, because the strain is not too
bad. Today (yesterday) we rested him as a precautionary measure," said
Oscroft.
In the second match, Spain beat England 3-1 to sound an early warning in
their title quest.
The Spaniards scored off a fifth minute penalty corner when Xavi Ribas
sent in a crackling flick.
But England drew level with a 12th minute penalty corner by Dave
Mathews.
Spain were not in a compromising mood and surged ahead with two goals in
two minutes. Ribas was on target again in a 34th minute penalty corner and
just after restart, Pol Amat sounded the board with a superb field goal
for a comfortable lead.
After the breather, Spain hammered in three more goals via Eduard Tubau
(40th, 68th) and Amat (44th).
England scored a 70th minute goal off Jerome Goudie but it made no
difference.
Malaysia.........1 South Africa....... 3
New Zealand......0 South Korea........ 0
England .........2 Spain ..............6
(END)