High stakes in Hobart

10/10/2001

HOBART: If Malaysia lose their first match against New Zealand today inthe Junior World Cup in Hobart, they might as well head to the airportstraight from the Tasmanian Hockey Centre and catch a flight back home. That is how high the stakes are in Group D. At 6am Malaysian time today, Argentina and Germany, the other two teamsin the group, will get into action and the outcome is expected to be infavour of the Germans. Two hours later, Malaysia face New Zealand in what will be a crucialtie. But have faith in the Juniors, for they seem to have an awesomereputation in Hobart, with even the Germans picking them to besemifinalists. "We are not worried about Argentina and will get a better picture ofthem after the first match but the New Zealand side is capable of playingwithout any set pattern and that might upset the formbook," said coachYahya Atan after watching Ireland hold champions Australia to a 1-1 draw. Yahya has been busy watching recordings of the Argentinians play for thelast two days and feels they will not pose much of a threat to Malaysiawhen they meet tomorrow. In fact, the Argentina match can be used to run up Malaysia's goal tallyin case it comes to that at the end. "New Zealand do not have many good individual players but they work wellas a team. Their defenders are good and if Ryan Archibald, their skipper,is in form, they could do some damage." So what is Yahya going to do about Archibald? "Tight marking. I will have to put a man on him to make sure he does notget the ball as often as he would like. If we shut him out of the match,half the battle is already won." It did not rain yesterday and it was good hockey-playing weather as theclouds rolled past slowly gently over the Tasmanian Hockey Centre. Buteven if it rains today, Yahya is not worried as the boys have clocked insome good practice time in the icy-cold rain. "New Zealand did beat the daylights off Australia in the qualifier, butthat can't be used as a yardstick because only four players are availablefrom that squad as the rest are now overaged. "But since the Kiwis are an aggressive side and some of them tower aboveour players, the first half could go either way." And as the team headed back to their hotel yesterday, most were sportingsmiles. And the reason was Ireland. "Ireland just proved that anything can happen on the field if you putyour heart into the match. Nobody gave then even half a chance but theysilenced the Australian crowd with determination and discipline. "If Ireland can hold the champions to a draw, why can't Malaysia dreamof bigger things," said skipper Chua Boon Huat. Why not indeed but for that to happen, Chua and his teammates mustbelieve in themselves for it is going to be a tough war to win here. JUNIOR WORLD CUP RESULTS GROUP A England 5 Chile 2 Australia 1 Ireland 1 GROUP C Spain 8 Scotland 0 India 5 Canada 0.
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