KUALA LUMPUR: Razie Rahim's penalty corner goal saved some grace for Malaysia in the ongoing Six-Test series against Argentina in Buenos Aires yesterday.
Malaysia finally held Olympic champions Argentina 1-1, in the Fifth Test, after losing the earlier four.
For the record, Argentina are only fielding eight Rio de Janeiro Olympians, and blooding 10 more players in the Tests. Nicolas Della Torre (37 caps) scored a field goal in the 12th minute, and Razie (240 caps) replied in the 26th minute.
Malaysia lost the earlier four matches (1-0, 6-1, 7-2, 2-1) and will play the final Test today.
Coach Stephen van Huizen said: "We started the match cautiously, and slowly got into the game.
"We managed to keep them under control until the 12th minute where they broke away around the left goal line and into the danger zone to score.
"Slowly we got back into the game and started giving them problems and when we won a penalty corner, Razie converted by flicking low into the right corner.
"The Argentinean started putting more pressure and we had to work hard to stop them and the whole team, including the forwards, had to cut their passes.
"Our goalkeeper (S. Kumar) was at his best to inspire confidence along with Shukri (Mutablib) and Razie (defenders).
"I'm happy with the effort and to a get result (one point) finally, as the matches have been tough."
The team is in Argentina to prepare for the Asian Games in Jakarta on Aug 16-Sept 2, where only the gold medallist qualifies for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Friday, June 1, 2018
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