Malaysia Rev-it up!

MALAYSIA hammered the daylights out of South Africa with a punishing 4-1 win in the Quarter-finals of the Champions Challenge I in Buenos Aires, Argentina yesterday.
   Coach Paul Revington’s men will now meet either Japan or South Korea in the semi-finals.
   Malaysia showed that they meant business when Izwan Firdaus scored in the fourth minute of the match, and a brace from Faizal Saari in the 38thth and 57th minutes and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin’s goal in the 56th minute sealed the match.
   The South African goal was scored by Austin smith in the 63rd minute.
   “We have reached the target set by the Malaysian Hockey  Confederation (MHC) which is to finish top-four in the  Champuions challenge to improve our rankings.
   “However, the team has his own target of winning the title  and playing in the Champions Trophy and that will be our  focus in the remaining two matches,” said Malaysian team  manager George Koshy.
   George attributed the early goal was settling their nerves:  “After that, the confidence grew and the players managed to  soak  in the pressure and deliver the goals.”
    For the record, Malaysia finished fourth in the 2001  Champions Challenge in Kuala Lumpur when they lost to  Argentina 4-2 in the bronze battle.
 

Malaysia lead the numbers game...

Ahead of Thursday’s Quarter Finals, the FIH brings you a statistical look at the completed Pool phase of the Argentina Hockey Men’s Champions Challenge 1, which is currently taking place in Quilmes.

Pool phase by the numbers

4: The number of goals conceded by Malaysia in their three Pool A matches, the fewest conceded by any team in the Pool phase of the competition.

6: The number of penalty corners scored by Korea’s Jang Jong Hyun in the Pool phase, making him the tournament top scorer. Argentina’s Gonzalo Peillat is just one goal behind on 5, with all of his goals also coming from penalty corners. The leading open play scorers are Tengku Tajuddin Abdul Jalil (MAS), Marcin Lewartowski (POL) and Guillermo Schickendantz (ARG), who have all claimed 2 goals each so far.

9: The number of points earned by both Malaysia and Argentina en route to winning their respective Pools. Both teams finished the Pool phase with 100% winning records, giving them great confidence ahead of their Quarter Final matches on Thursday.

11: The number of goals conceded by Poland in their three Pool A matches, shipping more than any other opponent ahead of the Quarter Finals.  

12: The total number of goals scored by Malaysia in the Pool phase, more than any other team in the competition. Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim and Tengku Tajuddin Abdu Jalil have top scored for Malaysia, netting 4 and 3 respectively.  

36: The total number of disciplinary cards shown during the Pool phase of the competition. 26 Green Cards and 10 Yellow Cards were shown during the 12 pool matches, with Yellow Cards averaging at less than one a game.

62: The total number of goals in the tournament so far. Over the 12 matches, this is an average of over 5 goals a game. The most popular method of scoring has been from open play, with 33 field goals so far. 25 penalty corners have been scored, with 3 penalty strokes and 2 own goals. Malaysia and Poland are the only teams to have conceded own goals in the tournament so far.