Indians unlucky against Aussies

16/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: India were clearly the better team but champions Australia walked
away with three points after their Junior World Cup match at the Tasmanian
hockey centre yesterday.
In the last 15 minutes, India, who were trailing 2-1, displayed some
world class attacking hockey with little regard for defence but Australian
goalkeeper Leon Martin stood his ground.
And when the horn blew, even the Australian fans knew they were lucky to
have walked away as winners.
The first half was lopsided as Indian skipper Ajit Singh Gagan, Jugraj
Singh and Prabhjot Singh kept the ball in the Australian semicircle for
long periods with great stick work and superb team play.
In the 23rd minute, India scored off a penalty corner set piece, but the
goal was disallowed by the umpire.
But India had impressed the crowd with their wizardry and the second
half was an exciting affair.
In the 38th minute, the match took on a physical look as both sides
tried to break the deadlock with India trying to score while Australia
were desperate to move upfront more often.
That was when Ajit received a nasty blow just below his knee and had to
be carried out. He required stitches and was out for 10 minutes but India
hardly missed him as the scored the opener off a penalty corner.
A dummy saw Jugraj with plenty of room and he slammed in the lead. The
desperate Aussies, who lost 4-2 to Holland on Sunday, needed to win and
the match became robust with four yellow cards flashed with two for each
side. In the 44th minute, Australia leveled with a penalty corner goal
from their skipper Craig Victory. It was following one of the rare
attacks.
India still dominated but poor finishing cost them as Australia fought
back and in the 58th minute, Josh Hawes scored a field goal which brought
the crowd to their feet.
Australia meet Argentina tomorrow and must win if they want to defend
their crown while India, who have only one point after a 2-2 draw with
Argentina, meet Holland in what will be their last chance to remain in the
running for the semifinals.
In pool E, England, who beat korea 5-3 on Sunday, continued their fine
run and drew 2-2 with Spain. They play Germany tomorrow and if they win,
it will be the fairytale of the tournament.
Today, the match of the day is between Holland and Argentina and it will
be interesting to see how the Dutch stop the speedy Argies.
(END)

Will the nightmare end?

16/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: How will the Malaysian juniors fare against South Africa today?
Nobody dares answer because if there are any awards for being erratic in
the Junior World Cup here in Tasmania, Malaysia will win hands down.
The first round is now history, some say a nightmare, and many feel the
new target of finishing ninth in this 16-team tournament will merely be a
dream if Malaysia fail against South Africa.
Scotland, who beat Chile 3-2 yester
day, look good to advance into the 9-12th placed classification matches,
and it is imperative that Malaysia win today.
They should be rested for they spent yesterday, a rest day for them,
doing some window shopping in the morning and they had a workout in the
afternoon.
Malaysia, if they win today, will not be assured of advancing in the top
two position as they have to beat Chile tomorrow to confirm their berth.
For the moment though, South Africa need to be slayed and it is not
going to be easy because they beat Chile 3-2 on Sunday and need the three
points as well.
They might find the Malaysian defenders, if Chua Boon Huat plays the
full match at the back, tough to crack. But the problem is, Malaysia have
not been impressive upfront.
Only one of the five goals they have scored in the campaign so far was
by a forward - Fairuz Ramil - while fullback Chua scored one, midfielder
Jiwa Mohan two and halfback Jiva Mohan one.
88 Forwards Zaharin Zakaria, K. Logan Raj and Tajol Rosli have hit a bad
patch but after the training session yesterday, they vowed to make amends.
"I know the statistics do not look good for the forwards but we have
been doing our best. The midfield has been great but I think tight marking
and robust play has stopped us from scoring," said Zaharin.
Yesterday, coach Yahya Atan was seen instructing his charges to play on
the right side while the left was used sparingly and they looked good. But
then again, nothing is confirmed with this team until the THE END is
flashed on the scoreboard. jugjet@nstp.com.my SECOND ROUND RESULTS
GROUP E
ENGLAND 2 SPAIN 2 GROUP F
AUSTRALIA 2 INDIA 1 LOSER'S POOL
GROUP G
IRELAND 2 CANADA 1 GROUP H
SCOTLAND 3 CHILE 2
(END)

Lissek: I could strangle 'em

15/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: National senior's coach Paul Lissek simply could not understand
why Malaysia failed to beat Scotland in the classification match of the
Junior World Cup at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre yesterday.
But he was clear about one thing, throughout the match, he had a strong
urge to strangle some of the players and kick skipper Chua Boon Huat in
the backside, because they could have easily won the match but ended up
sharing points.
"There are no excuses for the way the team played today. I have told
them time and again to play on the right side of the field and after the
first 15 minutes, they started attacking from the left and the middle.
They have all the skills and fitness to become great players, but they
don't have it up there (pointing to the head) to win matches," said Lissek
after Malaysia drew 1-1 against a weak Scotland side.
"I even stood on the right side of the pitch so that they will get the
signal and have a better chance to score. In hockey, the right side is the
easiest to play on and score goals but K.Logan Raj, Jiwa Mohan and the
rest preferred to let their back stick do the work and the Scotts had an
easy time stopping them."
And after the first goal, the Juniors started attacking in numbers
because most of the time there were seven upfront while three were left to
guard the back.
"What were they trying to do? In their haste to score more goals they
left the back wide open for Scotland to equalise. Chua played as a
fullback, which is what he does best, but after the goal, he too went
forward to try and get his name on the score sheet.
"It was really bad hockey and a bad tactic, because against a team like
Scotland, we could have defended the one goal we had and walked off as
winners. Scotland do not have good strikers, Malaysia made them look good
by giving them too much of space to run riot at the back," said Lissek.
The German also lamented on their short-term memory.
"When I show them videos and point out what they are doing wrong, they
seem to understand and follow my instructions. But after 20 minutes of
play, they always go back to their own style and forget everything that
they have been taught. Against Scotland, I told them not to hold on to the
ball too long and attack from the right. But after a few minutes of play,
they started playing on the left and everybody held on to the ball longer
than it was necessary."
Lissek feels that the Juniors were exposed to hockey at a late stage in
their lives so it is very difficult to change their style of play.
"It is no use pounding them right now because the basics should have
been taught to them in the primary schools itself. It is too late to
change things when the players reach 16. Maybe we should concentrate on
younger players in the future."
Just like Malaysia, the rest of the teams in the Junior World Cup have
also been preparing for the past three years so the standard is pretty
much the same among most teams and the only thing that separated the top
eight from the bottom eight was the power to assess a situation and make
the most of it.
"Most people do not understand the German style of play, they see it as
boring, but I see it as winning points with the least amount of trouble.
If Malaysia had defended after the goal, like the Germans would have done,
they would have won three points instead of sharing it with Scotland."
Lissek expects the 2002 World Cup in Kuala lumpur to be equally
challenging: "The public will expect the team to make the semifinals but
it is not going to be easy. Before I left for Germany and then Tasmania, I
conducted a fitness test on the seniors and while some passed it, some did
not make the grade. But there is nothing to worry about, because right now
they are following a rigorous programme and should be ready for the 2002
World Cup.
"The World Cup brings out the best in most teams, so even those who are
termed as weak have an equal chance to do well. We can only prepare the
team, when they are on the pitch they make the decision weather they want
to play for a win or throw away the match," said Lissek.
The German cooled down a little after saying his piece, but tonight he
is sure to give the Juniors hell for throwing away three points. Jugjet@nstp.com.my SECOND ROUND RESULTS
GROUP E
GERMANY 2 SPAIN 1
ENGLAND 5 SOUTH KOREA 3 GROUP F
INDIA 2 ARGENTINA 2
HOLLAND 4 AUSTRALIA 2 LOSER'S POOL
GROUP G
FRANCE 1 IRELAND 0
CANADA 2 N ZEALAND 1 GROUP H
MALAYSIA 1 SCOTLAND 1
SOUTH AFRICA 3 CHILE 2
(END)

Juniors are back at it

15/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

THE Malaysian juniors were back at what they do best at the TasmanianHockey Centre yesterday. Scotland were never in the match, but Malaysia made them look like asolid team with a pathetic display in the classification match of theJunior World Cup which ended in a 1-1 draw. Playing on Pitch B, Malaysia only won two penalty corners, one in eachhalf, and most of the time were happy to play with little imagination, andtheir stopping was atrocious. Scotland only had two clear chances in the entire first half but failedto score because they simply did not have any good forwards. Most of the first half was played in midfield and for the first sevenminutes the Malaysian juniors did not even manage to break into Scotland'ssemicircle because of poor passes. It was fitting that they played on the second pitch while India andArgentina displayed world class hockey on the main pitch. Twenty minutes into the match and still not a single shot was taken atgoal. Scotland goalkeeper Kris Kane must be as surprised as the 200-oddfans at the stands because Malaysia came with a reputation of having heldGermany to a 2-2 draw in the first round match. By the look of things yesterday, the draw was only a flash in the panand Malaysian hockey has hit an all-time low. The first half ended with Scotland looking the better team with somegood counterattacks while Malaysia were happy to have midfield possessionwith the ball moving from right to left and back again with no forwardplay. But two minutes into the second half, Mohamed Fairuz Ramli connected apass from K. Logan Raj on the left and scored. Malaysia started attacking after that with seven players upfront whilethree defended. Even skipper Chua Boon Huat, who played as a defender onthe first half, moved up in search of the second goal. In their eagerness to score more goals, they left the midfield wideopen. Most of the attacks were from the left of the field and notsuccessful. Scotland skipper Lawrence Doherty scored the easiest of goals when M.Jiwa, in trying to make a back pass to Chua, gave the ball away and allthe Scot had to do was beat Malaysia goalkeeper Mohamed Firdaus for theequaliser. With four minutes left on the clock, Scotland were the more dominatingside and won three penalty corners in succession. But their inability toeven stop the ball properly saved Malaysia from the humiliation offinishing their first classification matches without any points. "I fail to understand the boys anymore, after playing well againstGermany, they showed little imagination against Scotland. We are lucky tohave walked away with a point," said coach Yahya Atan. Malaysia next play South Africa tomorrow and by the looks of things,they are not even good for the ninth spot and might end up at the bottomof the table. But you'll never know what the erratic juniors will do next, so all bets are off.

All we get is lies damn lies!

14/10/2001

Game all with Johnson Fernandez

MALAYSIANS form the largest number of the foreign Press corp at the JuniorWorld Cup in Hobart, Tasmania. There are six of us, the others being Jugjet Singh (New Straits Times),V. Ashok (Berita Harian), S. Ramaguru (The Star), Asan Ahmad (Bernama) andSaadon Jaafar (Utusan Malaysia). In fact, there is just one other guy, from Holland. Four Nigerianjournalists are also registered but they have not been seen. There was a bit of excitement in Hobart that Malaysia had deemed itnecessary to send journalists to a junior event. There was generalamazement, and the obvious questions followed. Is hockey very popular in Malaysia? And so on... On the first few days we proudly announced that all the major newspaperswere in town because the Malaysian team were expected to do well. Some ofus genuinely believed that Malaysia were even good enough for thesemifinals. Even after the opening 3-2 defeat by New Zealand we clung on to the hopethat Malaysia would bounce back. We even thought that perhaps starting thetournament with a defeat may even be good for the team. And so we were still there the following day, still in a state ofdenial, for the game against Argentina. One minute into the game, Argentina led 1-0 and the Malaysianjournalists looked at one another. This was not good. Well, there wasstill 69 minutes of play left. When the second goal came, we knew how wrong we all were! The selection process had started about three years ago and this teamwere kept together for the last 11 months. They had cost the taxpayersabout RM2 millions. The Malaysians were just a bunch of losers. They may have wanted to playwell but they didn't know how. And worse, I don't even think the teamofficials knew the first thing about motivating the players. And that is something the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and NationalSports Council (NSC) should think about when they appoint officials. But more than anything I need to tell them this - if a world classtournament is not being played at home, do not bother entering a Malaysianteam. Like some of our badminton players, the hockey team are also jaguhkampung. Or if they still insist on sending teams overseas, then be prepared tosend about 10 planeloads of supporters as well. Malaysian athletes have no character. It is not enough for the playersto know there are people rooting for them. They need to hear thesupporters. One of the habits of officials when they return from playing toursoverseas is they sing praises of the team and tell you how every playerperformed exceptionally well. They will never tell the truth for fear they may be replaced, or thattheir own quality as an official may be questioned. So they paint a veryrosy picture of the team's prospects. In fact, this is not the case of the hockey team alone but severalothers like soccer. The truth is always buried in a pile of cover-ups,distortions and lies. After the game against Argentina, as coach Yahya Atan walked towards thetraining pitch, he stopped where two Malaysian players were standing nearthe changing room. And he said to them: "Itu lah, suruh you orang lari bukit, tak nak. Itutak boleh, ini tak boleh. (This is the result. Tell you to do hill runsand you refuse. This cannot, that cannot). I was shocked to hear that. Very, very concerned because I asked myselfif Yahya enjoyed the respect of the players. Who was running the team? The officials? Or the players? Did the playersactually have a say in how they should be trained? Did they have the rightto refuse? I knew then immediately why this team had lost their two matches. No matter what happens from hereon, no need to pity the players.Basically, what we sent to Hobart were shirkers. They may have drawn with Germany and even finish as the best team in thelosers' pool by finishing ninth. Don't be fooled by it all. These players do not deserve sympathy. They had taken us all for a verylong ride - to Korea, India, Poland, Germany and Hobart.