Malaysia start with a bang

MALAYSIA 1 ENGLAND 0

MALAYSIA did what was expected of them when they beat England 1-0, courtesy of Faizal Shaari, in their curtain raiser of the Junior World Cup at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Baru yesterday.
Playing in Group C, there were many jittery moments, but in the end, they held onto the early goal and will meet South Korea in another grueling match today.
Korea hammered USA 7-1 to show that they will not be pushovers.
"I am happy with the score, but not the way my boys played in the second half. They are capable of playing much better," said juniors coach K. Rajan.
And Rajan promised a sizzling encounter against Korea: "Many players had cramps today (yesterday) because they lacked fluids, and we will address that tonight. And I promise another sizzling match against South Korea."
The boys started on a confident note, and there was no stopping them from raiding the England goalmouth with precision, but missing was the last touch needed to slot the ball in.
Cheered on by a capacity crowd of 5,000, Malaysia controlled the match, and won their first penalty corner in the 11th minute.
Faizal Shaari made a powerful attempt, but the ball sailed over the bar and England were let off the hook.
However, a rough tackle in the 18th minute, saw Faizal being flashed the yellow card and he sat in the sin-bin for a good 12 minutes.
And immediately after Harvinder Singh made his appearance, his darting runs took him deep into the English semi-circle, but goalkeeper Ian Scanlon brought out some good saves.
And in the 30th minute, just as Faizal was recalled from the sin-bin, Malaysia won their second penalty corner.
The forward, wearing jersey number 10, did not disappoint with a powerful drag flick which gave Malaysia the lead, and he ran towards the fans to celebrate wildly.
England only had one penalty coner to show late in the first half, and the Malaysian players defended it well and went into the dressing room with a confident gait.
And the confidence was again obvious when they restarted, and placed England under tremendous pressure.
However, Malaysia started playing more cautiously 10 minutes into the half, to hold onto the lead, by making some back passes. The English started to use longballs to ease the pressure on their defense.
In the 53rd minute, Malaysia won their third penalty corner and this time Faizal's flick was saved by postman David Beckett.
England won two more penalty corners, but Malaysia defended with style, and when the final whistlke blew, they threw their sticks in the air in jubilation.