Sunday, March 4, 2018

AZLAN SHAH CUP: MAS 1 AUST 3

WORLD No 1 Australia beat Malaysia 3-1 in a highly entertaining Azlan Shah Cup encounter in Ipoh Sunday.
  And after a day's rest, coach Stephen van Huizen's men face world No 2 Argentina in what is also expected to be an uphill battle.
  Yesterday, world no 12 Malaysia never had a single shot at goal until the third quarter, and the only time Malaysia 'scored' was in the 33rd minute.
  However, the Australians asked for video referal, and Razie Rahim's penalty corner attempt was not recognised, as the ball was not stopped outside the semicircle as rules required.
  The Australian goals were scored by Corey Weyer (10th), Dylan Wotherspoon (29th) and Aaron Kleisnhmidt (43rd).
  Marhan Jalil scored a famous goal for Malaysia in the 53rd minute.
  In an earlier match, Olympic champions Argentina came back from two goals down to beat Ireland 5-3,
  The Los Leones (The Lions) as they are nicknamed share the top of the table on six points with Australia -- both with two consecutive wins.
   Ireland, World No 10, took a two-goal lead after 17 minutes of play.
   Shane O’ Donoghue (12th),  Sean Murray (17th) and Eugene Magee (52nd) scored for the Irish.
   But Argentina's penalty corner specialist Gonzalo Peillat scored his second hat-trick of the tournament (20th, 23rd, 47th) while Lucas Vila (22nd) and Juan Gilardi (30th) handed them victory.
  Peillat, the world’s top penalty corner specialist, also scored a hat-trick in their 3-2 victory over India.
  Argentina chief coach Rolando Rivero said: "In the first half Ireland were really good and tough and started with the two goals. It was really tough and in the second half we tried to change and adjust our game plan and I think we did it right to score those goals."
  Argentina play Malaysia after a day's rest.
  "Our next match against is against Malaysia we will try to improve further.
  "We know its going to be tough with Malaysia having home ground advantage. Malaysia plays really well and hard and we are looking forward to it."
  Ireland coach Craig Fulton said his charges played much better than they did in the first match against Malaysia.
  "It was much a better performance than against Malaysia (lost 4-1),
the nice thing is how strong we finished in the fourth quarter, but failed to score."
  RESULTS: India 1 England 1, Ireland 3 Argentina 5, Malaysia 1 Australia 3.
  MONDAY: REST DAY.
  TUESDAY: England v Ireland (4pm), India v Australia (6pm), Malaysia v Argentina (8.30pm).


STANDINGS
                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
AUSTRALIA         2  2  0  0  7  2  6
ARGENTINA         2  2  0  0  8  5  6
MALAYSIA          2  1  0  1  5  4  3
ENGLAND           2  0  1  1  2  5  1
INDIA             2  0  1  1  3  4  1
IRELAND           2  0  0  2  4  9  0