No excuse against Scotland

By Vijesh Rai

AFTER two matches, knives have been sharpened but national hockey coach Stephen Van Huizen has called on critics to view Malaysia's Commonwealth Games positively.
The team's target, Van Huizen argued, is the Guangzhou Asian Games next month and New Delhi is all about getting the players ready.
Though he admitted that Malaysia have been below par, especially in the 4-1 defeat to Pakistan on Wednesday, he said the matches in New Delhi are proving several insights to the coaching panel.
"We are trying to build up for the Asian Games and we have to take the performances here in a positive light. We may have lost to India (3-2) and Pakistan but what we will take back from here is indications of how they are going to play in Guangzhou," said Van Huizen yesterday.
India or Pakistan are likely to be Malaysia's semi-final opponents in the Asian Games, provided the national team don't stumble as they have been doing in New Delhi.
But with an automatic slot into the 2012 London Olympics available to the Asian Games champions, Van Huizen doesn't want his men to impress in New Delhi only to fail in Guangzhou.
"We are scrutinising the performances of all the players and we will work on their weaknesses once the Commonwealth Games are over."
Van Huizen, however, admitted that Malaysia were poor against Pakistan.
"We were fine when the score was 1-1 but when Pakistan scored their second, our performance dropped and the defence, especially, had an off day.
"We play Scotland tomorrow (today) and it is a must win game for it will set us nicely for the clash against Australia (tomorrow)."
Losing to Scotland isn't an option, even if Malaysia are focused on the Asian Games for there are some matches they simply have to win.

Learn from defeats

By S.S. Dhaliwal

NOT being able to utilise their chances is the best way to sum up Malaysia's two performances thus far in the Commonwealth Games as Malaysia went down 1-4 to Pakistan today.

After the defeat against India on Tuesday, much was expected from Malaysia, but the punishing pace of the Indians took their toll as Pakistan turned on the power to score three goals in the second half, after the two teams were tied 1-1 going into the breather.

However the Malaysian team ought to look at these two defeats as a learning process towards the Asian Games as Malaysia could well meet either India or Pakistan in the semi final stage at the Asian Games next month.

And that 70 minutes against either of these two teams will determine if Malaysia will then get within another 70 minutes of a place in the 2012 London Olympics.

Coach Stephen van Huizen was neitther happy with the performance nor with the result as he tries to whip up a decent team, capable of Making Olympics on the merit, as he did in Japan in 1999 where they made the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"We matched Pakistan in the first 35 minutes but conceded an early goal in the second half and that somewhat eroded the confidence of the players," said Stephen.

"After that Pakistan knew we had to attack to get a positive result and they duly punished us for our mistakes in defence.

"There are several aspects of our game that I am not too happy about and this is something that we must address within the next month to have arealistic chance going into the Asian Games.

"Finishing off chances has been a problem and we need to be sharper in the semi circle. We have two more matches here and the players know that they have to perform as not all are assured of a place in the Asian Games squad."

Numbers don't add up

By S.S. Dhaliwal

That is the question Stephen van Huizen would have kept asking himself last night after the national team lost 3-2 to India in their opening match of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games at the Dayan Chand Hockey Stadium.

Not because that Malaysia led twice, nor for the fact that Malaysia lost the game in the closing stages of the match, which has become a pain since the last two decades, but more so if registering two goalkeepers for a tournament was a good choice.

For the record Malaysia has S. Kumar and Roslan Jamaluddin in the 16 players listed for the Commonwealth Games, but India and Australia have only listed one goalkeeper in their team.

A calculated risk? Well it paid dividends for India as so far as the match last night was concerned, a matter that was not at all overlooked by Stephen in assesing his teams performance in the match.

India had four players that could be used as substitutes, while Malaysia had three and the telling pace of the match eventually got to the Malaysians as they wilted under the humid conditions and the fanatical support for the Indians.

"I am happy with the performance but not the result. A draw would have been a fairer result but when we cannot hold a lead, not once but twice, then we have to pay a price. And tonight it was a heavy price though as really we created enough chanches to win." said Stephen.

"I have been thinking of this one goalkeeper thing and really it is something we ought to start considering but the risks are great.

"Maybe it is time FIH come out with a ruling, that teams can replace a goalkeeper should the registered keeper suffer from an injury that is certified. And it will be a one way process, that the first keeper cannot be brought back into the team.

"It is food for though as the pace of hockey has increased and an additional player will help the team."

Not withstanding that though, Stephen admitted that Malaysia lacked depth on the bench as opposed to their opponents.

"We have options such as Kelvinder and Jivan back home but they must put an effort and get fit in order to be considered."

To be fair, Malaysia played well and there was pin drop silence when they scored twice. But India pulled of an escape act and all their three goals could have been avoided had there been better concentration on the part of the Malaysians.

Malaysian women upset Canada 3-2

THE Malaysian women’s hockey team upset Canada 3-2 in New Delhi last night, placing the pressure on the men to deliver against hosts India tonight.
Malaysia, ranked 22nd in the world, took a 3-0 lead before losing their grip to the world No 19 team late in the second half.
The toast of the day was Norbaini Hashim who scored a brace in the 18th and 56th minutes, while Norfaraha Hashim delivered the third in the 49th minute.
Diana Roemer 56th and Anna Kozniuk 59th scored Canada. Today, the women will meet world No 7 New Zealand.
As for the men, Jiwa Mohan is optimistic of a good opening match: “The players know the score, and are looking to win every match because the Commonwealth Games is part of our journey towards the Asian Games. The feeling in camp is that India can be beaten, and we will strive towards that.”
Jiwa, based in Australia now, also praised the security measures adopted by the hosts.
“The difference from previous Games is that in New Delhi, security is tops on the Indian Government’s list and I personally feel very safe.
“The team feeling is good as players are focusing and zooming into their task as the first game gets closer.
“All the players are aware, that a few players like Kelvinder Singh and Jivan (Mohan) have been rested in Kuala Lumpur so, consistency and improvement are the qualities they need to maintain as this point of time.”
WOMEN’S Hockey: RESULTS --Group A: South Africa 12 Trinidad & Tobago 0; India x Scotland x.
Group B: New Zealand 5 Wales 1; Canada 2 Malaysia 3.
TODAY -- Women’s Hockey: Group A: Australia v Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa v Scotland.
Group B: England v Wales, New Zealand v Malaysia.
TODAY -- Men’s Hockey: Group A: Pakistan v Scotland, India v Malaysia.
Group B: New Zealand v Trinidad & Tobago, Canada v South Africa.

Friendly: Canada 2 Malaysia 2 (Men)

HOT WORK: The New Zealand women's hockey team train at the National Stadium in New Delhi. LAWRENCE SMITH/Fairfax Media

We played two halves against Malaysia on the Stadium pitch, one 25 min. half and one 20 min. half.
We started off fairly well and had most of the play.
After earning a couple of penalty corners, Scott Tupper slotted one between the goalies legs to go up 1-0. We then had a few very good scoring opportunities which we could not put behind the keeper in the goal.
The play then went back and forth a bit before we cashed in on one of our opportunities as Philip Wright received the ball in front of the goalie and quickly got it up and over him into the top of the goal. We let them get back into the game early in the second half when they scored on a quick counter attack to cut the lead in half.
We held it together for the rest of the half until the final minutes when they were given a suspect penalty corner that they converted low stick side. All in all it was not a bad game for us but a very frustrating result that we should have never let get away.
We will learn from our mistakes though and be ready for our opening match against South Africa on Tuesday.

Our post match routine of cooling down and ice bathing was quickly executed before we were off to the Village again for some dinner. As most of us are now adjusted to the jet lag, we will all be hanging out for a couple of hours before we head to bed and prepare for the day to come.

Dave Jameson

Field Hockey Canada media release