MALAYSIA beat Netherlands 2-1 in a friendly in Perth yesterday, which came as a refreshing news after the drubbing they received against Australia on Saturday.
The national players played four friendlies against the World No 1 and lost 3-1, 5-2 and then won 5-2 before receiving an 8-1 drubbing in the final friendly.
And yesterday, a penalty corner rebound from Azlan Misron and a penalty corner direct from Faizal Saari saw they beating the Dutch.
“The good thing yesterday was that we had to rest both our flickers Razie (Rahim) and Amin (Rahim) we were carrying minor injuries and this allowed Azlan and Faizal to show that they are capable to fill the gap when needed,” said Malaysian team manager Stephen van Huizen.
The match was played for 70 minutes, as the earlier plan to play four halves of 15 minutes was scrapped because the Dutch could not play the second friendly today as scheduled in the Tour fixtures.
And it was also pleasing to note, albeit the matches being friendly, that Malaysia had beaten the World No 1 and World No 3 teams ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers in Dublin on march 10-18.
“Even though the matches were only friendlies, it is good that the players have showed that that they have the capabilities to upset higher ranked teams.
“We came here with the objective to strengthen the team before Dublin, and it turned out to be a very informative outing which can help us improve the team further.
“As for the 8-1 drubbing, there are lessons which we can learn from that match, which we hope will not be repeated in the Qualifier.”
In Dublin, Malaysia will play South Korea, Ireland, Chile, Ukraine and Russia with an eye of snatching the single ticket on offer to the London Olympics .
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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