South Korean Sixer...

THE Koreans came prepared, and romped into the finals of the Champions Challenge I with a 6-3 demolition of Malaysia in Buenos Aires.
    The Asian giants will now meet Argentina, who beat Ireland 2-1 in the other semi-finals, for the gold medal which offers a ticket to the Champions Trophy.
    Malaysia had beaten South Korea 4-2 in the Group A match, and coach Shin Seok Kyo then prepared his men to slaughter Malaysia.
   The score was South Korea 4 Malaysia 0 when the half-time buzzer blew, and there was never a chance of a recovery even though coach Paul Revington’s men rallied hard to scorer three goals in the second half.
     “We played very well even though it was a tough  match as they (Malaysia) were really fast. However, our specialist penalty corner flickers have trained for this match by watching the videos, and they felt confidence to get the result, and they did just that.
    “We are happy to be in the finals and are ready to challenge Argentina in front of their home fans,” said Jong Ho Seo,
    Korean coach Shin had said that he was excited to meet Malaysia in the semis, and now we know why.
    “My players were well prepared for this game.  We’ve lost in the first match when we played for the group, but we had a special preparation for this match and the players were really efficient today from penalties corners.”
     The seventh best team in the world were simply brilliant, dominating possession and scoring four times without reply to stun a Malaysian side that had won all four of their matches by four goals coming into this game.
  Korea’s opener came eight minutes into the match from a rising penalty corner flick from Hyun Hye Sung, and he claimed his second of the match 19 minutes later with a smart finish following a driving run from the right.
   Things went from bad to worse for |Malaysia towards the end of the half when they scored an own goal before Lee Seung Il drilled home a penalty corner to give Korea a huge half time lead.
      Malaysia’s second half performance was far better, and eventually pulled a goal back when Chua Boon Huat deflected home a penalty corner in the 48th minute, but Korea’s Jang Jong Hyun restored the four goal advantage with a penalty corner of his own just two minutes later.
    Again Malaysia hit back when Razie Rahim’s drag-flick made the score 5-2 with 18 minutes remaining, but Jang ended any hopes of a comeback when he converted his eighth goal of the tournament in the 60th minute.
    Marham Jalil scored a consolation goal five minutes from time, but Korea had already done enough to march into the  final.
      Revington, was optimistic that his charges will bounce back in the bronze match against his former team Ireland: “Korea executed the corner’s well (four goals) as our defenders were not as strong as in the previous matches. However, the team’s character is strong and they will have enough confidence to do their best in the remaining match.”