Gold will inspire Commonwealth and Asian Games challenge

By S.S Dhaliwal From Paris

MALAYSIA won it's first international tournament since 2005 when the defeated hosts France to emerge as champions of the Insep Hockey Challenge in Paris.
The national team defeated hosts France 4-2 to claim the title after Ireland had defeated Scotland 2-0 in an earlier match.
But rather then gloat over the win, coach Stephen van Huizen was being practical, keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
"It is good to finally win a title. This augurs well for the confidence of the players as we approach the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games." said Stephen.
"It was a far better performance against France as the players showed better commitment and urgency in this match."
"After that performace against Ireland, the players realised that they have to be more consistent and not take things easy. So in terms of commitment and mental strength, it was a good lesson for for the players and hopefully it remains in their minds."
Stephen said that the team will take a break upon return and he has in mind the players to be listed for the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
"Realistically I know the team as the core will be from the players who are here in Paris. I will have a look at the update on the status of those who were left behind in Kuala Lumpur," said Stephen.
"As it stands I am interested to know the fitness level of Kelvinder Singh as he is one player that can be in the squad to New Delhi."
"However the composition of the team could change as I have read about reports wanting the best players to be in Delhi. It has its pros and cons so I will brief the MHF and come to a decision soon."
Not wanting to single out any player for outstanding performance in Paris, Stephen however did say that keeper S. Kumar and Mohd Razie are the mainstays of the team as they were consistent in all the matches.
"The duo are playing really well and I do hope that they carry the form into both the Games and the other players also improve their performances," said Stephen.

Luciana hat-trick inspires Argentina

Day 1 of the BDO FIH Hockey World Cup saw victories for Korea, England and host nation Argentina, with vast numbers of supporters turning up to watch the action. PARK Mi Hyun scored the winning goal for Korea as they defeated China in the opening match, while Susie Gilbert scored the crucial goal to give England the victory. In the final game of the day, Luciana Aymar showed exactly why she is considered to be one of the finest players of all time with a stunning display, netting a hat-trick as her team romped to a 5-2 victory over South Africa.
Match Review 1 - China v Korea 1-2

> Korea remain unbeaten in 7 FIH matches in 2010. They have now recorded 6 wins and 1 draw in World Cup qualifying and World Cup this year.
> Korea handed China their fifth successive defeat in major international tournaments, after having suffered four defeats in row at the 2010 Champions Trophy.
> China’s Zhao Yudiao opened the score. She has now scored in all three major tournaments Olympics, Champions Trophy and World Cup.
> China have now lost the last four matches in which they went 1-0 up (3 CT matches and 1 WC match).
> Park Mi-Hyun (KOR) scored the winning goal for Korea. She also netted against China in the Final 9-10 at the 2006 World Cup, which Korea also won 2-1.

Match Review 2 - Spain v England 2-3
> England start their 2010 World Cup campaign with a win, like they did at each of the previous three World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006).
> England led 3-2 at half-time. The last time England scored three goals in the first half at a World Cup tournament was 16 years ago, at the 1994 World Cup, when they led Canada 3-0 at half-time.
> Gloria Comerma (ESP) scored the first penalty corner goal at the 2010 World Cup in the third minute of the match.
> Comerma also scored a third minute PC goal in last year’s Champions Challenge match against Italy.
> Alex Danson scored the equaliser for England; she has now scored 1 goal in each of the last three World Cups (2002, 2006, 2010).
> Crista Cullen scored her 7th career goal in major FIH tournaments all from penalty corners. She has now scored at the 2006 World Cup, 2008 Olympics, 2010 Champions trophy and 2010 World Cup.

Match Review 3 - Argentina v South Africa 5-2
> Las Leonas started their 2010 World Cup campaign with a win over South Africa. This victory marked their first win over SA in World Cup, Champions Trophy and Olympic competition.
> Luciana Aymar scored a hat-trick today to become the first player since Maria de la Paz Hernández in the 2006 Bronze medal match to score three goals in a World Cup match.
> Argentina go top in Pool B after day 1, leading England and Korea on goal difference.
> Seven goals were scored in this match. At the 2006 World Cup only two matches saw 7 goals being scored: CHN-NED 1-6 and KOR-AUS 3-4.
> Noel Barrionuevo scored her 13th goal in all FIH tournaments since the 2008 Olympics.
> Barrionuevo is the first ARG player to score against South Africa since Rosario Luchetti at the 2006 World Cup (2-2).
> Pietie Coetzee scored her 17th goal in 17 World Cup matches. She is the competition top scorer among players present at the 2010 World Cup.

Finally, a gold medal in hand

Results: Ireland 2 (Eugene Magee Peter Caruth) Scotland 0; Malaysia 4 (Hanafi Hafifihafiz 2, Izwan Firdaus, Mahammad Razie) France 2 (Fabian Magner, Martin Genestet)
Final Standings: 1. Malaysia 9pts (+3) 3. Ireland 8pts (+5) 3. Scotland 6pts (-3) 4. France 4pts (-1) 5. Poland 1pt (-4)

By www.hookhockey.com

IRELAND kept up their half of the bargain in their bid to claim the inaugural INSEP Five Nations title but ultimately had to settle for second place as Malaysia’s 4-2 win over hosts France sealed the title in their favour.
It was the boys in green’s most impressive performance of the week, stretching Ireland’s unbeaten run against the Scots to 15 games – dating back to November 2006.
Eugene Magee fired them into a 22nd minute lead with a reverse-stick shot into the bottom left corner. Timmy Cockram had a chance to double the advantage soon after when Ronan Gormley’s overhead found Chris Cargo on the left wing who fed Cockram but his shot was smothered away.
Scotland picked up a pair of green card sin-binnings before the break and were stung deeper still early in the second half. Gormley again started the move, playing the ball inside to Joe Brennan who slapped a vicious ball into the circle for Peter Caruth to deflect home for the day’s second goal.
The Scots best opportunity came from a 56th penalty corner but it was snuffed out and the greens ended the game primarily on the attack and Iain Walker, in his maiden tournament appearance, completing a shut out.
Speaking after the game, Irish assistant coach Arul Anthoni said: “We are very pleased with the fact that the team got stronger each game and kept improving collectively” with the side working on the development of a new man-to-man defensive system.
Wednesday and Thursday’s draws were ultimately the sticking point as Ireland had chances against both Poland and France to grab the win. It left them to subsequently made to wait on text messages and phone call updates of the final score from the tournament’s final game as they made their way to the airport for early return flights to Dublin.
France were well in that crucial tie, level at 1-1 with 46 minutes gone via Fabian Magner penalty stroke. But Malaysia swept into a 4-1 lead with Hanafi Hafifihafiz scoring a brace to take the title before a late consolation goal closed out the Parisian tournament.
Ireland: Iain Walker, John Jackson, Geoff McCabe, Ronan Gormley (capt), Joe Brennan, Eugene Magee, Andy McConnell, Mitch Darling, Timmy Cockram, David Ames, Conor Harte Subs: Chris Cargo, Alan Giles, Peter Caruth, Alan Sothern, Phelie Maguire
Scotland: James Cachia, Mark Ralph, Chris Nelson, Kenny Bain, William Marshall, Iain Scholefield, Niall Stott, Gareth Hall, Ross Stott, Cameron Fraser, Gordon McIntyre
Subs: Stephen Dick, Derek Salmond, Alan Forsyth, Vishal Marwaha, Gavin Byers.

Malaysia might end fourth

By S.S. Dhaliwal From Paris

MALAYSIA went down 1-4 to Ireland in their third match in the Five Nation Insep Hockey Challenge in Paris and may have let go an opportunity to win their first ever international tournament since 2005.

Although Malaysia have six points from two wins and a loss, they are in second spot, behind Scotland who also have six points as the Scots have scored eight goals as opposed to Malaysia's seven goals. Ireland moved up to third spot with five points as a result of two draws and the win over Malaysia while hosts France have four points following their 6-4 win over Poland today that condemned the Poles into last place for the tournament.

Malaysia will know just what they have to do against France tomorrow (Sunday) as Ireland will play against Scotland in an earlier match. If the Scots win, then Malaysia will need to better the number of goals Scotland scores in that match while an Ireland win means Malaysia has to win over France to emerge champions.

A defeat for Malaysia, with an Ireland win would mean Malaysia could end up in fourth spot, thus belittling their world ranking as they are the top ranked team in the tournament.

Coach Stephen van Huizen was peeved at the performance of the players, but lest be accused of coming up with excuses, Stephen did defend his team.

"We played badly and deserve to lose but at the same time we have to realise that the players must be tired after playing 12 matches during this tour," said Stephen.

"There was no urgency in their play and they seem to have lost their zest, hence the poor result in the match today. Still that is no excuse to lose to Ireland as it makes things more complicated and has opened up the tournament for the other teams.

"We could have put Ireland out of the equation and sit pretty on the top of the standings. But as it stands we can even end up second last.

"There is everything to play for against France, whom I must say have improved since the tournament startted."

Malaysia opted to play Roslan Jamaluddin in goal instead of S. Kumar as part of their rotation policy to provide players with more playing time.

Ireland opened scoring in the 12th minute via Eugene Magee who converted a penalty corner. But Malaysia drew evel in the 46th minute when Hafifihafiz Hanafi scored. Ireland hit back two minutes later through Mitch Darling and relied on counter attacks to catch Malaysia off guard to score another two goals.

Mitch scored the third in the 55th minute and Eugene made sure of the three points, scoring Ireland's fourth in the 65th minute.

"We have a chance to atone for the poor performance and the players realised that they cannot expect results if they play like that," said Stephen.

Such is the situation of the players due to the fasting month that the two players seected for random doping, Mohd Shukir Mutalib and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin had failed to produce a sample even after the end of the France v Poland match, some two hours after the end of the Malaysian match.

Magee strikes nail Malaysia

By www.hookhockey.com

INSEP Five Nations: Ireland 4 (Eugene Magee 2, Phelie Maguire, Mitch Darling) Malaysia 1 (Hanafi Hafifihafiz)
Ireland kept the possibility of winning the INSEP Five Nations alive as they notched an impressive win over Malaysia in spite of giving up eight corners in Paris this afternoon, recording their best ever win over the Asian nation in their 12th meeting.
It leaves Paul Revington’s side with an outside chance of taking the inaugural title should they beat Scotland and Malaysia fail to beat France in Sunday’s tournament closer.
Peter Caruth – originally a non-travelling reserve – came in for Paul Gleghorne in the first change to the match day 16 this week.
Eugene Magee gave Ireland the early initiative in the 12th minute, taking on the drag-flicking responsibilities for the only goal of the first half. They had a couple of corner opportunities late in the half, too, as Mahammad Razie was sin-binned in the 28th minute but neither were taken to leave the gap at the minimum.
And, with Ronan Gormley yellow-carded for ten minutes, Malaysia started to create more openings in the second half, breaking their duck in the 45th minute when Hanafi Hafifihafiz levelled from open play.
But Phelie Maguire – with his third goal in two days – restored the advantage within two minutes and they created a more comfortable edge soon after.
Initially, Ireland were disappointed when a corner was down-graded to a bully. But Mitch Darling won the face-off and played the ball out to Timmy Cockram on the right wing who switched the ball into the middle for Darling to deflect home his 18th international goal and 3-1.
Malaysia came close to pulling one back soon after when number one runner Andy McConnell was carded for breaking the line. John Jackson kept the follow-up corner out with an excellent reaction save on the line.
The tie was sealed with six minutes to go by Magee whipped home his second corner, this time low to Roslan Jamaluddin’s glove side.
Speaking after the game, coach Paul Revington was pleased his side was able to finish off the tie after two draws: “We took our chances today which we have not done in previous games which is pleasing, but there is still plenty to improve on and rectify.” Ireland play Scotland tomorrow at 12.30 (Irish time) in their final test.
Ireland: David Harte, John Jackson, Geoff McCabe, Ronan Gormley (capt), Joe Brennan, Eugene Magee, Andy McConnell, Timmy Cockram, Phelie Maguire, David Ames, Conor Harte
Subs: Chris Cargo, Alan Giles, Peter Caruth, Alan Sothern, Mitch Darling
Malaysia: Roslan Jamaluddin, Muhamad Amin, Muhammad Marhan, Madzli Ikmar (capt), Shahrun Nabil, Mohamad Sukri, Mirson Azlan, Mahammad Razie, Hanafi Hafifihafiz, Baljit Singh, Ahmad Tajudin
Subs: Tajol Rosli, Izwan Firdaus, Saari Faizal, Mohan Jivan, Nabil Fiqri
Results: Ireland 4 (Eugene Magee 2, Phelie Maguire, Mitch Darling) Malaysia 1 (Hanafi Hafifihafiz); France 6 (Olivier Sanchez 2, Fabian Magner 2, Martin Genestet, Jean-Baptiste Pauchet) Poland 4 (Tomasz Dutkiewicz 2, Artur Mikula, Waldemar Rataj)
Standings: 1. Malaysia 6pts (+1) 2. Scotland 6pts (-1) 3. Ireland 5pts (+3) 4. France 4pts (+1) 5. Poland 1pt (-4)
Match Schedule (Irish Time):
Sunday (1.30pm): Ireland vs Scotland; (3pm) France vs Malaysia.