THE Azlan Shah Cup dream could turn out to be a nightmare yet again, even as Malaysia move into high gear for the Invitational tournament which will be held in Ipoh on March 9-17.
For back in the fray are World No 2 Australia, who sat out last year, and also defending champions New Zealand who grabbed the title by edging Argentina 1-0 last year.
Malaysia have never won the Cup even after playing in the tournament 21 times, and the 22nd Edition is expected to be no different.
But the title would not matter is Malaysia beat the three Asian teams in Pakistan, India and South Korea, as they will be meeting the trio again in the Asia Cup in Ipoh on Aug 24-Sept 1.
“The team have been moving nicely since we last played in the Champions Challenge I in Argentina, and the three wins against Ireland were a big boost ahead of the Azlan Shah Cup.
“However, we need a few more training sessions as well as matches before we name the final squad for the Azlan Shah Cup,” said assistant coach Arul Selvaraj.
Malaysia, even though without No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar, striker Faizal Saari and defender Baljit Singh; still managed to beat Ireland 4-2, 3-0 and 3-1 in the three recent Tests.
“Everybody has been giving their best in training as well as matches and it would be tough to select the final 18. That is a good sign that the team is progressing well.
“We know the score, that we need to get results against the three Asian team as we will be playing them again in the Asia Cup for the single ticket to the World Cup,” said Arul.
The three Tests showed Malaysia have fallen back in their penalty corner conversions, as many went to waste, and this is one are that needs to be sharper to produce results in both the tournaments in Ipoh.
