Juniors salvage some pride

14/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: For Malaysia, it was a face-saving draw but as far as Germany
coach Uli Forstner is concerned, the 2-2 draw in their Junior World Group
D match yesterday was gifted to the national team.
While Malaysia, after the 5-0 whipping by Argentina, played reasonably
better, Forstner couldn't be blamed for feeling piqued at his players as
Germany led 2-0 at one stage.
Still, it seemed that the Germans brought out something extra from the
Malaysians who played with more urgency and cohesion at the Tasmanian
Hockey Centre.
Perhaps whatever consultant coach Paul Lissek told them upon arrival
here did something to the players.
But Lissek's magic was not instantaneous, because when the first half
ended, Malaysia were down 1-0 and by the 43rd minute, they were two down
and looked to be heading for another whipping.
But the juniors, after flattering only to deceive, finally showed
fighting spirit to come back and snatch a point, something Forstner, who
is normally calm and composed, found hard to accept.
Germany won their first penalty corner in the 11th minute and Max
Landshut scooped high into the roof of the net to beat goalkeeper Firdaus
Razali, who replaced Saiful Azhar who was rested after bad outings against
New Zealand and Argentina.
If anything, the goal resulted in Malaysia defending better with Firdaus
making a number of good saves.
In fact, the defenders and Firdaus have to work extra hard as the
forwardline was out of the match for long periods and play was
concentrated mostly in the Malaysian half.
After the break, Florian Keller hammered in the second goal off a
penalty corner set-piece in the 43rd minute.
But the Germans couldn't find a way past Malaysia again after that and
to their credit, the Malaysians played much better this.
In the 47th minute, Malaysia won a penalty corner in one of their rare
forays into the German semicircle.
Skipper Chua Boon Huat made no mistake with a well placed push and
Malaysia were back in the game.
The Malaysians showed more maturity in their game after that and started
attacking with vengeance.
There were plenty of misses before Jivan Mohan sent the ball to his
brother Jiwa, who had the simple task of slotting past goalkeeper Ulli
Bubloz in the 62nd minute.
The Germans were lost for ideas after that and Malaysia took the
opportunity to control the match but could not find the winner and walked
away with their first point in the World Cup.
"Last night (Friday), Paul Lissek showed us a video of the German team
and pointed out weaknesses in individual players and we capitalised on the
information and performed better," said Chua.
"There was intense pressure on the team to do well after a long and
costly preparation, so during the first two matches we could not focus."
"There was intense pressure on the team to do well after a long and
costly preparation, so during the first two matches we could not focus.
Maybe now that we are more settled, ninth placing will not be a problem
to achieve," said Chua.
It is a pity that the players are now loking forward to ninth placing
when a top-four was what most expected.
GROUP B
SOUTH KOREA .... 4 SOUTH AFRICA .... 3
HOLLAND ....... 2 FRANCE .......... 0 GROUP D
MALAYSIA .... 2 GERMANY ......... 2
ARGENTINA .... 3 NEW ZEALAND ..... 0
Jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

Spectacular Argentina polish off New Zealand

14/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: The first round of the Junior World Cup ended yesterday at the
Tasmanian hockey centre and Malaysia were the only team that upset the
formbook by not making the second round.
Australia, India, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Argentina, England and
Holland all moved into the second round while the other eight teams
"advance" to the losers pool.
Yesterday, Argentina polished New Zealand 3-0 with Lucas Cammareri, who
dribbled past three New Zealand defenders, opening accounts with a cheeky
field goal in the 11th minute.
Then in the 37th minute, Juan Gilardi, who had missed a penalty flick in
the first half, made amends when Argentina were awarded a second stroke.
In the 49th minute, Gilardi scored from the spot again as Argentina, who
thrashed Malaysia 5-0 on Thursday, brought their first round campaign to a
spectacular end.
"My boys played with character and they enjoyed themselves on the pitch
so much that the goals came without much effort.
"It is our style to play for fun and see what happens and it has worked
so far. We will play the same against India tomorrow (today)," said
Argentine coach Alejandro Verga.
India have an impressive record of three wins in their group but
Argentina are no pushovers and their form suggests that they could go all
the way in Hobart.
India coach Rajinder Singh feels the match could go either way.
"After watching them play against New Zealand, we are going to treat the
match against argentina like the final," said Rajinder.
In yesterday's other matches, South Korea edged a stubborn South Africa
4-3 to make the second round while Holland nailed france 2-0 to advance.
Today, Holland play champions Australia who limped into the second round
and are expected to face a tough time defending the crown they won in
Milton Keynes in 1997.
(END)

Juniors' journey of shame

13/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

HOBART: From aspiring to be among the best in the Junior World Cup before
they set out on their journey to Tasmania, Malaysia now have been dumped
with the dubious option of aspiring to be the best among the rest.
With a top eight finish out of the question now, Malaysia will have to
look at the 9-16 places reserved for mediocre and below average teams.
And only the Juniors and their coach Yahya Atan can determine which of
these two categories they want to belong to. Given the options, being
mediocre might help lessen some of the flak that's awaiting them.
Their mediocre journey in the tournament begins today against Germany
when they wrap up their Group D fixtures in what will be a face-saving
match after a disastrous campaign.
After losing 3-2 to New Zealand and being whipped 5-0 by Argentina, the
match against Germany will not have any bearing except to decide whether
Germany or New Zealand top the group.
For Malaysia, their job is to stop Germany and the rest from here from
wiping their boots all over them after they had spread out the "Welcome
mat" against Argentina on Thursday.
Now they face the ignominy of having to play in the classification
matches at the second pitch which gets waterlogged even if it rains for
five minutes.
Yesterday, there was a steady cold shower throughout the day and the
second pitch could not even be used for warm-up.
After the Argentine whipping, Yahya and goalkeeper coach Zulkifli Abbas
gave the boys hell at the Valley Lodge Motel and are expecting them to
give their best today.
Paul Lissek, the seniors coach, reached Hobart early yesterday morning
to give a helping hand to lift the team's spirits. But since he did not
watch their earlier matches, he was in no position to comment on how they
fared.
But he will be going through the videotapes the night before the match
and "knock some sense into their game".
"I asked the boys what went wrong and why did they play like they did
not know the game at all, and they said they were lost without a leader to
call the shots and set the tempo of the match," said Yahya.
It looks like skipper Chua Boon Huat's absence was sorely felt and S.
Shanker, who wore the skipper's armband in the match against Argentina,
could not rally the boys behind him.
In fact, Shanker who plays as a right fullback, did the most number of
mistakes and was responsible for allowing in three easy goals.
Chua has served his sentence for abusing the match umpire when playing
against New Zealand and will be back in action against the Germans today
and if the boys play well or hold the Germans to a draw, it looks like the
Malaysian Juniors are a one-man team.
If that's true, this is not good for the future of the junior side
because when Chua, 21, makes the senior squad in a few months time, the
Juniors will be crippled without a backbone.
For the Germans, it will be more like a warm-up match and they might
field their reserves in the second half because they have already made the
second round, which might be good news for Malaysia but makes no
difference to their campaign.
"We are now focusing, on the ninth spot right now, and hopefully the
players forget the past and play like they did during the tours and
friendlies that we had over the year."
The local paper, The Mercury, again headlined the Malaysian malady in
their sports pages today. It was a hard hitting article which criticised
our national team for faring badly after spending close to RM2 million
ringgit and training for more than a year.
True, they were were provided with everything, but at the end of the day
they will have to fight their own war. And this team has so far shown that
it doesn't have that `scrotal gumption' for it. Junior World Cup Hockey Results
Group A
Ireland ..... 4 Chile ....... 1
England ..... 0 Australia ... 0
Group C
Scotland .... 3 Canada ...... 1
India ....... 3 Spain ....... 0
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

India cruise into second round

13/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

WITH three wins and 15 goals in the bag, India cruised into the second
round yesterday with a stunning 3-0 win over Spain at the Tasmanian Hockey
Centre yesterday.
Playing in the cold rain, Indian skipper Ajit Singh Gagan, who played in
the 1998 Commonwealth Games as a 17-year-old budding star, ran circles
around the Spanish defenders and amazed the 200-odd crowd with his skill
and composure in controlling his teammates.
Spain were totally outpaced and there was never a moment when they
looked like they could have made a comeback.
India scored in the seventh minute off a Jugraj Singh penalty corner and
as the rain got heavier and the wind stronger, they too grew in strength
and were unlucky not to have increased the lead further in the first half.
In the second half, a move involving Bimal Lakhra, Arjun Halappa, who
also played in the 1998 Commonwealth Games and Thakur Sonkhla mesmerized
the Spanish defenders and Thakur sounded the board.
And India confirmed there would be no Spanish comeback in the 48th
minute when Ajit made a dash from the left and dribbled past three players
before slotting home.
India finished as Group C champions while Spain join them in the second
round.
In Group D, Germany and New Zealand are assured of a second round ticket
and the Germany-Malaysia match today will decide who tops the table.
England and Australia played to a draw yesterday which means England top
Group A with seven points while Australia are second with five.
"After the first goal, which unsettled my players, I knew that India
would be hard to beat. So when we were 3-0 down, I sent in some
substitutes to expose them," said Spain coach Salvador Indurain.
Indurain said he won't be surprised if India make the final.
In the 1997 edition in in Milton Keynes, England, India finished second
behind champions Australia and have retained most of the players.
(END)

Lost souls in Hobart

12/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart
HOBART: Seven Malaysian students came to watch Malaysia play a crucial
match against Argentina in the Junior World Cup in Hobart yesterday, and
they even brought along the Jalur Gemilang, but never got a chance to
"raise" the flag because the national juniors played like a group of
clowns, and got whipped.
Argentina 5 Malaysia 0, read a scoreline that emphatically reflected not
only the quality of their game, but also their mental ability to deal with
adversity.
There was no shape in the team at all, and for eighty percent of the
match they looked like lost children trying to find some reason to
continue running aimlessly in the playground.
In the absence of their skipper Chua Boon Huat, who was serving a
suspension for abusing the umpire after the New Zealand match, S.Shanker
wore the skipper's armband.
But it looked like the responsibility weighed too heavily on his lean
shoulder, as he made the most number of errors, one of which resulted in a
goal. And he could hardly rally his team mates to put up a decent show.
Coach Yahya Atan said after the match that Argentina were a far better
side, but from the media stand, it didn't look that way at all. It was
Malaysia who made them look like champions with their silly mistakes, and
giving them too much room to move around.
The shock started in the very first minute when Lucas Cammareri scored
after goalkeeper Saiful Azhar made a save and the ball landed in front of
the unmarked Argentine who looked surprised at how easy it was to get his
name on the score sheet.
That was a clear signal for all to see but the 11 Malaysian players on
the pitch were still brooding over the disallowed goal against New Zealand
on Wednesday and continued playing like lost souls.
And when Marcelo del Negro sored the second in the 16th minute off a
penalty corner set-piece, it was clear that the Malaysian juniors will not
be playing in the second round, but in the losers pool for the remaining
part of the Junior World Cup.
They proved everyone right as the third goal, a result of a comedy of
errors in defence, was scored by Argentine skipper Rodrigo Villa and the
first half ended with Malaysia trailing 3-0, and in no position to put up
a decent fight for the rest of the match.
Except for the penalty stroke which Shaiful saved in the first half, the
rest of the juniors played with a heavy heart as the sky became overcast
and the chilly winds started howling a sad tune.
Those who had any notion that the second half will be different, were
proved wrong just two minutes into the match when a stick-check in the
semicircle awarded Argentina their second penalty stroke. And this time,
Juan E Garreta made sure when Shaiful dived in the wrong direction.
Malaysia continued playing like they were the team with the four-goal
cushion as the Argentine side attacked in numbers. For a good 20 minutes
Malaysia did not have a single look at the Argentine goal because they
were busy defending. Only luck, coupled with some poor finishing by
Argentina made the situation bearable.
And in the 60th minute, del Negro scored his second goal after some fine
dribbling to hammer in the last nail in a sad episode of the Malaysian
juniors history.
"Without Chua Boon Huat, the team lacked a capable leader and played
badly, but credit is also due to the Argentine side which played a superb
attacking game," said Yahya.
"It is a sad day for Malaysian hockey because we have been training for
years but failed to get into the second round. But the boys are still
young and this, although a bitter pill to swallow, should make them into
better players in the future."
Even Argentine coach Alejandro Verga was surprised with the huge margin
: "We did not expect the match to be so easy because Malaysia are a good
side. Maybe the absence of their skipper made the difference for us
today," he said and stopped short of thanking New Zealand for it.
The seven Malaysian students studying in Hobart will be back to watch
Malaysia play Germany on Saturday, and hopefully this time they will get a
chance to wave the national flag. Jugjet@nstp.com.my
RESULTS
GROUP B
FRANCE 1 SOUTH KOREA 1
SOUTH AFRICA 1 HOLLAND 3 GROUP C
INDIA 7 SCOTLAND 1
SPAIN 6 CANADA 1 GROUP D
GERMANY 2 NEW ZEALAND 1
ARGENTINA 5 MALAYSIA 0
(END)