Wednesday, August 21, 2013

England hold Ireland 2-2

Euro Championships -- Group A Semi-finalists -- Netherlands and England.
                                       Group B semi-finalists -- A toss between Germany, Belgium and Spain.

MALAYSIA QUALIFY FOR THE WORLD CUP...

Now for the Asia Cup gold medal..

NATIONAL hockey coach Paul Revington named two midfielders yesterday to complete his Asia Cup cast, which will attempt to win Malaysia's maiden gold medal starting Saturday.
  The coach had earlier named 16 players who took Malaysia to fifth place in the World League semi-finals in Johor Baru.
  And yesterday, the two midfielders selected from the training pool were Jivan Mohan and Ramadan Rosli.
  Malaysia, for the record, have only won bronze medals in the Asia Cup -- but will be gunning for gold as the tournament also doubles up as a World Cup qualifier.
  However, it looks like Malaysia will already have qualified for the World Cup when dawn breaks, as the European Championships results so far is favouring Paul Revington and his men.
  Four teams have qualified for the World Cup from Europe -- Germany, England, Netherlands and Belgium -- and two of them made the semi-finals of the Euro yesterday.
  Netherlands and England qualified for the semi-finals from Group B, and the three teams poised for the semis from Group A last night were Belgium, Germany and Spain.
  And by morning in Malaysia, it does not matter which two of the three make the semis from Group A, Malaysia will play in the World Cup in the Hague, Netherlands after a hiatus of 12 years.
  And the Asia Cup will just be a relaxed tournament for Revington's men to claim gold -- and drag India by the collar into the World Cup as well.
  MALAYSIA -- Azlan Misron, Baljit Singh, Firhan Ashaari, Faiz Helm, Faizal Saari, Izwan Firdaus,
S. Kumar, Sukri Mutalib, Izad Hakimi, Fitri Saari,
Shahrun Nabil, Marhan Jalil, Razie Rahim, Nabil Fiqri, Roslan Jamaluddin, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin,
Jivan Mohan, Ramadan Rosli.
  Asia Cup: Group A -- Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan; Group B: India, South Korea, Oman, Bangladesh.
  Malaysian Fixtures -- Saturday: Malaysia v Taiwan (8.05pm); Sunday: Malaysia v Pakistan (8.05pm).
  Aug 27: Malaysia v Japan (8.05pm).


D-Day for Eurp men.. What happens if?

Today is the big day in the men’s event: who will be our semi-finalists?  
   The day starts with Pool B, when Ireland meet England (half-time now and England lead 2-0). 
   This is the decisive game in Pool B, as the Netherlands are already confirmed as semi-finalists, and Poland is equally certain of moving into the relegation pool. England will reach the semi-finals with a win or draw, while Ireland must win to avoid the Pool C.

In Pool A, we first have Germany taking on the Czech Republic. If Germany loses, they are in the relegation pool, but if Germany wins or draws, they depend on the result of the subsequent match between Belgium and Spain. If Belgium wins after Germany has won or drawn, it’s Belgium and Germany in the semi-finals.
If Belgium and Spain draw after Germany has won, it’s Belgium and Germany who are in the Top Four, but if Belgium and Spain draw after Germany has drawn with the Czech Republic, it’s Belgium and Spain who are semi-finalists.
  If Spain wins after Germany has won its match, it all comes down to goal difference!