India ready for Malaysia..

The Hague, Netherlands, 06 June 2014: After playing a 1-1 draw against Spain yesterday, Indian Men Hockey team is all geared up to take on Malaysia and looking forward a win against the opponents. Team India showed its determination against Spain and especially goalkeeper P R Sreejesh was commendable. Malaysia has lost all the 3 matches while India lost its first two closely contested matches and drew their third match against Spain giving them 1 point on the points table.

     Commenting for the next match against Malaysia, Chief Coach, Mr Terry Walsh said, “The performance of our team has improved significantly in their weak areas. The team is high on self confidence and is pepped up for the future challenges. We know that Malaysia is not an easy team but we are ready with our strategies to give tough challenge to our opponents”.

    Speaking on the match against Malaysia, Captain Sardar Singh said “We are continuously learning and improving with every game. We are well aware about our weakness and strengths. The team is continuously working hard to put up their best performance in every game. Our confidence is very high and we are certain to beat Malaysia to improve points tally”.

Malaysia vs England - Men's Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 The Hague Poo...

Malaysia take a nose dive..

FIH PICTURES


   “It’s motivation time at the camp right now because as everybody can see, some of the players can play much better than what they have been dishing out so far.
   “We still have two more matches to look forward to and I believe there will be better all-round performance as we are still in the hunt to finish as high as number eight in the World Cup,” said Malaysian coach K. Dharmaraj.
   As for Hafifi Hafiz, who received a kung-fu kick in the head from the England goalkeeper, he will be out for at least eight weeks after he went into a concussion. 

MALAYSIA are in dire straits, after letting in 12 goals in  three matches, and the indications are that the will nosedive  to the bottom of the World Cup pool at the Hague, Nether lands.
   After nightmarish 4-0 and 6-2 whippings by Australia and  Belgium respectively, coach K. Dharmaraj’s men played  another listless match and lost 2-0 to England.
   Razie Rahim is the only player to have scored in the World  Cup, while promising forwards Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin,  Faizal Saari, Ismail Abu and Fitri Saari keep on shooting  blanks.
   However, they still have two more matches against India  today, and Spain on Monday to avoid the wooden spoonists  title in the World Cup.
   India, who drew 1-1 with Spain, only have one point after  three matches while the Spanish have two points, after  snatching a draw against England.
   And if Malaysia manage to pull off upsets against India and  Spain, they might just finish fourth in the group and play in  the seventh-eight classification match.
   The World Cup  format will see the top two teams in each  group play in the semi-finals, while third team in Group A will  play the third team in Group B for the fifth-sixth positions.
    The silver lining for Malaysia is that their matches against  Belgium and Australia are over, while India still has Aus tralia, while Spain have Belgium to contend with.
    The writing is on the wall, as only goalkeeper S. Kumar has  been playing to his form in all three matches, second  goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin has yet to be fielded, while all  16 other players have been playing only 50 percent of their  capabilities.
    The pathetic defensive record stands out like a sore thumb  at the Hague, as the weakest team in Group B South Africa  has only let in nine goals after two matches.
    And if Malaysia collapse against India and Spain, they are  most likely to play South Africa for the 11-12th spot in the  crossover.
    MALAYSIA’S World Cup Fixtures (Malaysian time) -- Today:  v India (8.30pm); Monday: v Spain  (8.30pm).

GROUP A

                      P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
AUSTRALIA   3   3   0  0  10 1   9
ENGLAND      3   2   1  0  5  2    7
BELGIUM       3   2   0  1  10  7   6
SPAIN            3   0   2  1  2  5    2
INDIA             3   0   1  2  4  6    1
MALAYSIA      3   0   0  3  2  12   0

Another bad day at the office for Malaysia..

FIH PICTURES

MALAYSIA had the chance to salvage their World Cup campaign, but played scrappy hockey to hand England full points as they went down 2-0 at the Hague, Netherlands yesterday.
   It was their third straight defeat, after being hammered 4-0 by Australia, and 6-2 by Belgium.
   Their only remaining encounters in Group A are against India and Spain.
    England also played in patches, but were lucky to take the lead in the fifth minute, when the entire defense stood rooted and Mark Gleghorne had all the time to beat goalkeeper S. Kumar with a reverse stick flick.
   For the record, Kumar was the best Malaysian player yet again, as he brought off eight point-blank shots in 70 minutes and received accolades online via the England Hockey and International Hockey Federation tweets.
    The match statistics provided by the FIH was damning as Malaysia only had one shot on target, while England had eight and scored two.
   All three Malaysian penalty corners also went to waste, while England scored one off their three. Another damning stat was that England was 88 per cent efficient, while Malaysia were a low 33 per cent.
   And while Malaysia again played erratic hockey in the last 10 minutes of the match, when they should be looking for the equaliser, Ashley Jackson’s 67th minute goal sealed their points for good.
    England, World No 4, now have seven points from three matches as they held Spain 1-1 and beat India 2-1 earlier.
   Malaysia are left with the task of beating India and then Spain, if they don’t want to end at the bottom of the pool.
   Coach K. Dharmaraj’s men have let in 12 goals, and only scored two -- indicating that the defenders have been sleeping on the job.
   “It was another tough game, and letting in so many goals after three matches is demoralising, but I always look at the bright side.
   “I believe we will not disappoint in the remaining matches,” said Kumar, whose heroics in all three games saved at least another 15 goals from being scored against Malaysia.
    MALAYSIA’S World Cup Fixtures (Malaysian time) -- June 7: v India (8.30pm); June 9: v Spain  (8.30pm).

Australia vs Malaysia - Men's Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 Hague Pool ...