Ernst & Young v Village Club final

NATIONAL Juniors whipped Royal Thai Airforce 13-0 in the Asian Champion Clubs Cup at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday, but will not be playing in the third-fourth placing match.
Ernst & Young, who beat the National Juniors 5-2 on Thursday, will meet Royal Thai Airforce today, and even if the Thailand club loses by 30-0, they will still play in the third- fourth placing match.
The Asian Hockey Federation (FIH) decided on this, as the juniors are only a wild card entry in the six-team tournament tournament.
Ernst & Young will meet Olympian Village Club of Pakistan, who beat Singapore Recreation Club 1-0 yesterday, in the final on Sunday.
But for the Juniors, even though the score-line looked impressive, but there was no reason top celebrate, as the Thailand team lacked quality while the Juniors fumbled more than a dozen open chances.
“Thailand is an average team, and even though my boys scored 13 goals, I am not impressed. I used all the reserves, and the fact that our goalkeeper did not have to pulloff any saves tells the story,” said Juniors coach K. Rajan.
The other side of the story is that the forwards, who will lead Malaysia’s charge in the Junior World Cup next year, lack the killer instinct when in the semi-circle.
“Yes, they fumbled many opportunities, and were not sharp in the semi-circle. I will work on that in the MHL (Malaysia Hockey League) as well as the friendlies lined-up before the World Cup,” said Rajan.
The Juniors who got their names on the score-sheet yesterday were Izwan Firdaus (16th, 23rd, 25th, 68th, 69th), R. Nadesh (37th), Faisal Kamarudin (39th, 44th), Ahmad Kazamirul (48th, 51st, 65th, 67th) and Azreen Rizal (52nd).
RESULTS -- Group A: Royal Thai Airforce 0 National Juniors 13; Group B: Singapore Recreation Club 0 Olympian Village Club 1.
Today: Group A: Ernst & Young v Royal Thai Airforce (3pm); Group B: Singapore Recreation Club v Adijon (5pm).
Tomorrow: Final -- 5pm; Third-Fourth: 3pm.

FIH release 20 for Junior World Cup

THE International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the list of teams playing in international tournaments next year and Malaysia have been relegated to play in Champions Challenge II.
And the sad part is, China and Canada are among the teams which will play in Champions Challenge I.
FIH also released 20 teams which will play in the Malaysia- Singapore Junior World Cup, with defending champions Argentina leading the charge. Australia and New Zealand only need to show up at the two-team Oceania Cup, and both will qualify.
Twenty teams, 10 in Malaysia and 10 in Singapore, will play in the Junior World Cup from
The six teams from Asia are both the hosts, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Japan. The groupings have yet to be released.
JUNIOR WORLD CUP TEAMS: 1 South Africa, 2 Egypt, 3 Malaysia, 4 Singapore, 5 India, 6 South Korea, 7 Pakistan, 8 Japan, 9 Spain, 10 Netherlands, 11 Germany, 12 Belgium, 13 England, 14 Poland, 15 Russia, 16 Argentina, 17 Chile, 18 USA, 19 Australia, 20 New Zealand.
Note: Australia and New Zealand need only to participate in the Junior Oceania Cup on Dec 11-14 to qualify.
CHAMPIONS CHALLENGE II TEAMS: 1 Japan, 2 Malaysia, 3 France, 4 Russia, 5 Ireland, 6 Poland, 7 Austria, 8 Chile, 9 Chile.