A win for malaysia, finally

23/07/2003

Malaysia...............4 England................1
Spain..................3 New Zealand............2
RANDBURG: Malaysia displayed great determination to outclass England 4-1
in the Champions Challenge at the Randburg Hockey Stadium in South Africa
yesterday.
With the win, the hopes of a good finish were raised. There was tension
in the air as Malaysia adopted an open game and started attacking from the
onset.
There were plenty of good passes into the England semi-circle but there
were no takers, as the ball whizzed all across the field. England
goalkeeper Jimi Lewis was under constant pressure in the first five
minutes, while Malaysian goalkeeper S. Kumar, fielded for the second time
in South Africa, had nothing much to do except direct his team-mates from
the back.
England looked comfortable in defence, and relied on long balls to get
to their forwards. And in the sixth minute, a long ball into the Malaysian
semi-circle earned them a penalty corner, which was cleanly tucked in by
Brett Garrard.
The Malaysian runners were a little slow out of the goalmouth and
Garrard's low push rolled past Nor Azlan Bakar and into the goalmouth.
Malaysia earned their first penalty corner in the 16th minute, but
stopper Nor Azlan could not trap the ball but the forwards fought back and
won the second consecutive penalty corner.
This time, skipper S. Kuhan failed to lift the ball off the artificial
pitch, but he recovered and made a pass to Jiwa Mohan, who slammed the
ball past Lewis.
Malaysia received their fifth penalty corner in the 40th minute, and
Kuhan's powerful flick grounded goalkeeper Lewis but Jiwa was slow to pick
up the rebound and the English survived.
The men in yellow swamped the English goalmouth and in the 49th minute,
K. Keevan Raj finally got the penalty corner set piece right and Malaysia
were in the lead.
Jiwa Mohan won the penalty corner and Kuhan pushed the ball to Keevan
who sent it crashing to the top of the English net.
Malaysian team pressed harder and were rewarded again in the 59th
minute.
Off a well-planned counter attack, the ball met Azlan Misron's stick and
he coolly slotted it in.
And with two minutes remaining, Riduan Nasir and Tajol Rosli perfected a
one-two with Tajol getting the last touch for Malaysia's fourth goal.
* SPAIN came back from a goal down to beat New Zealand 3-2 and kept
their hopes alive for a medal finish.
The Kiwis shocked the Spaniards with a sixth minute goal through Umesh
Parag but Xavi Ribas equalised 18 minutes later.
In the second half, Bevan Hari again gave New Zealand the lead with a
39th minute goal but it was cancelled a minute later by EduardTubau. And
when the match looked like it was heading for a draw, Rodrigo Garza nailed
the winner.
(END)