MALAYSIA scraped past Austria 3-2 in the Champions Challenge II in
Dublin, Ireland yesterday to be in the hunt for a semi-final berth from
Group B.
Kelvinder Singh started the count with a fourth minute field goal,
while Amin Rahim scored two penalty corner goals in the 46th and 49th
minutes.
The Austrians equalised at 1-1, after which Malaysia took a 3-1 lead
before allowing in a late goal. But Malaysia held on to win three
valuable points against their 22nd ranked opponents.
The next battle is against 17th ranked France and a win will
consolidate their semis ticket. Their last hurdle is against Russia on
Thursday.
At one stage, Malaysia were playing with nine players as Baljit Singh
and Jivan Mohan were sent to the sin-bin for a stick check, and
obstruction respectively.
"The scoreline is not that good, but the players did just enough to
earn three points, and I am sure they will do much better against France
tomorrow (today)," said coach Tai Beng Hai.
Malaysia played cautiously, even after taking a 3-1 lead, and the coach
said it was because they were caught many times for being too close
during autoplay.
"Even when our players were not obstructing, or playing the ball but
just making a retreat after an infringement, we were penalised for being
in the way.
"The rule was enforced too strictly, in my opinion, and we got caught
many times and my players became overly cautious after that," said Beng
Hai.
"We will need to keep their winning momentum against France, and
qualify for the semi-finals on a clean slate.
"The team will be more composed after overcoming their first match
jitters, and we should come out tops."
RESULT - Group B: Malaysia 3 Austria 2.
FIXTURES: TUESDAY - Group B: Austria v Russia, France v Malaysia; Group
A: Poland v Chile, Ireland v Japan.
WEDNESDAY - REST DAY.
THURSDAY - Group B: Malaysia v Russia, Austria v France; Group A: Japan
v Chile, Poland v Ireland.
FRIDAY - REST DAY.
SATURDAY - Semi-finals.
SUNDAY - Final.
