Black Hawk Down.. but not out

SULTAN of Johor Cup defending champions Malaysia were brought down to earth when they were soundly beaten 5-2 by New Zealand, but it is not game over for the fighting Malaysians.
  Playing on the eve of Deepavali, the Malaysians were 0-1 down by the
17th minute, but fought back to draw level with a Nor Faeez Ibrahim penalty stroke goal in the 22nd minute.
  And the skipper then led by example when he handed Malaysia the lead two minutes later off a penalty corner attempt.
  But that is as far as Malaysia went as the Kiwis scored at will after that and the end score-line was not flattering.
  However, the 7000-odd crowd which showed up at the Taman Daya Stadium kept cheering and singing long after the final whistle, as they knew that luck did not favour Malaysia, even though they fought for every ball right up till the final second.
  "I expected to lose a match, or two, in this edition, but not against New Zealand," was coach K. Dharmaraj's assessment of the match.
  It was spot on, as Malaysia had beaten world champions Germany 3-2 the previous day, and it was a come-back after losing 0-2.
  Dharmaraj's calculations indicated that nine points, the least, would be neded to play in the final and New Zealand were an inviting three points for his charges.
  India, who scalped Australia 2-0 and then beat Germany 3-1, are now the raging favourites and a big hurdle for Malaysia.
  Australia have also placed themselves back on firm footing after hammering Pakistan 5-1 on Monday.
  "It has become more difficult to play in the final now, but not impossible. We must take the Australians (today) and then go for Pakistan and India, there is still hope and I and my players are not about to give up just because of one bad day in office," pledged Dharmaraj.
  The defense needs to be more alert foor that to happen, as New Zealand were gifted three goals off long crosses which sliced through the entire Malaysian defense only for their strikers to tap in the easiest of goals.
  Australian coach Paul Gaudoin also saw the threat in Malaysia, and its vociferous crowd.
  "Malaysia, with strong backing from their crowd, is a very dangerous team and can never be taken lightly. We will have a tough time, I predict, but the plan is to take three points and move on after our disastrous start (against India)," said Gaudoin.
  Malaysia did defy the odds in the first edition to beat Australia in the final, and lets see if they are game again tonight.
  MONDAY'S RESULTS: Australia 5 Pakistan 1, Germany 1 India 3, Malaysia 2 New Zealand 5.
  TODAY (Wednesday): Germany v New Zealand (4pm), Malaysia v Australia (6pm), India v Pakistan (8pm).
  

STANDINGS

              P  W  D  L  F  A Pts
INDIA         2  2  0  0  5  1  6
N ZEALAND     2  1  1  0  8  5  4
AUSTRALIA     2  1  0  1  5  3  3
MALAYSIA      2  1  0  1  5  7  3
PAKISTAN      2  0  1  1  4  8  1
GERMANY       2  0  0  2  3  6  0

Malaysia lose 5-2 to New Zealand

MALAYSIA were defeated 5-2 by unsung New Zealand in their second match of the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Baru.
  It was a poor display by Malaysia who lacked imagination, as they held on to the ball for too long and did not use their speed to their advantage.
  And it was a porous defense that leaked goal, especially trapping the ball and not picking u players.
  Still credit must be given to the Kiwis who not only had to face a Malaysian side that oozed confidence after their 3-2 win over 5 times World Junior champions the previous night, but who were cheered on by some 7,000 fans.
  New Zealand had made known their intentions early on as they paid scant respect to the reputation of Malaysia.
  Their breakthrough came in the 17th minute as Angus Hazlett played the ball through to Ben Radovonich who deflected it past a stranded Shahrul Azaddin Auskarzie in the Malaysian goal.
  The Kiwis were awarded two penalty corners but on both occasions Malaysian first runner Mohd Izad Jamaluddin stood in their way.
  Malaysia were then awarded their first penalty corner in the 22nd minute. Skipper Mohd Nor Faeez Ibrahim relayed the ball to Izad and his attempt hit New Zealand defender Trent Left on the foot, thus forcing the umpire to award a penalty stroke which Faeez duly converted to level the scores.
  And two minutes later Faeez struck off Malaysia’s second penalty corner to give the defending champions a 2-1 lead.
  But New Zealand were not to be undone as they scored twice in two minutes to regain the lead.
  First it was Brennan Alexander Parker who picked up a loose ball after a mix up by Shahrul and Faeez that saw the ball fall free for the Kiwi to score with relative ease at the far post.
  And in the 32nd minute Radovonich sneaked behind the Malaysian defense and tapped in a cross, with the entire defense caught flatfooted.
  Things got worse for Malaysia in the second half as New Zealand added to their goal tally via Kane Russel in the 47th minute through a penalty corner before Michael Ritchie left the Malaysian defenders trailing as he raced through to slot the ball past Shahrul five minutes later.
  Muhammad Ramadhan Rosli could have narrowed the deficit but shot wide with only keeper Richard Joyce to beat in the 57th minute as the hosts slumped to a 5-2 defeat.

India scalp Germany as Divali gift..

SULTAN OF JOHOR CUP RESULTS:

Australia bounced back from an opening match defeat to defeat Pakistan 5-1 in a rain-affected match at the Sultan of Johor Cup.

India placed themselves as the firm favourites in the Sultan of Johor Cup after they beat five-time World Cup holders Germany 3-1 at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru.

And it was a perfect gift to the Indian public as Diwali, the festival of lights falls on Tuesday. Two wins over two top teams, Australia and Germany have given India the perfect start for the tournament.

    The Germans were never in the match in the first half, as Mandeep Singh ran circles around their defence and scored two brilliant goals.

   Mandeep’s first was in the eighth minute, which he tucked in from close range and even before the crowd could stop celebrating, he nailed his second.

   And this time, it was right after the re-start, Mandeep weaved his magic and beat German goalkeeper Victor Aly from close range,

  The Germans won three penalty corners in the first half, but could not find the mark.

  After the breather, Germany went on the offensive and were duly rewarded when Alexander Schollkopf converted a penalty corner in the 40^th minute.

  Hardly had the cheers died down that India struck for the third time as Akashdeep Singh broke clear on left, went past Victor and sent a reverse stick hit sailing into goal to make it 3-1.

Malaysia beat Germany 3-2

MALAYSIA came back from two-goals down to beat World Champions Germany 3-2 in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium yesterday.
  It was a match which not many had placed hoped on Malaysia collecting full points, but they surprised the 5,000-odd fans to turn the tables on Germany in a super second half-push.
  For the record, Germany won their fifth Junior World Cup title by beating Netherlands 3-1 at the same venue in 2009.
  Malaysia started off aggressively by winning four consecutive penalty corners but German first-runners and the upright stood in the path of skipper Noor Faeez Ibrahim.
  And by half-time, the crowd were almost silenced as Malaysia trooped into the dressing room being 2-0 down with goals from Tom Grambusch in the 18th minute off a penalty corner attempt, and a Moritz Tompertz field goal in the 23rd minute.
  Coach K. Dharmaraj must have given his charges a super half-time talk, as they came into the pitch with more passion than the first half.
  Malaysia started the fight-back in the 38th minute when Syamim Yusof squared the ball which everyone missed but not Amir Farid who sneaked in like a ghost to tap into an empty goal and it was game oin with Germany 2 Malaysia 1.
  And in the 49th minute Malaysia won their fifth penalty corner and the ball was relayed to Firhan Ashaari whose deflection hit Mathias Muller on the body.
  Umpire Kamran Sharif awarded a penalty stroke, which Faeez duly converted to put Malaysia on level terms.
  The hosts then set the Taman Daya pitch on fire and Ramadhan Rosli had the final say, when he scored in the 67th minute from an acute angle to give Malaysia this famous win.
  "During the half-time I told them to keep on playing attacking hockey and dont hold back even if Germany take a 10-0 lead. That is what did the trick for us today," said an elated K. Dharmaraj.
 Malaysian Hockey Confederataion (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who watched the match yesterday met the players and told them to play like the second half for the remainder of the tournament, and the title is all theirs for the taking.
  And with Germany out of the way, Malaysia are in a much more better position now to defend their Sultan of Johor Cup gold medal.
  Meanwhile, in the first match of the day, Pakistan bungled a 3-0 lead to share the spoils with New Zealand.
  The Pakistan goals were scored by Muhammad Dilber (fourth, 30th) and Muhammad Irfan (16th).
  The Kiwis started the fight-back in the second half when Jared Panchia scored in the 50th minute and Benedict Van Woerkom made it 2-3 in the 56th minute, and Kane Russel slammed in the equaliser in the last minute of the match.
  In another match, a disciplined India held on well to an Australian first half onslaugth before winning 2-0.
  Both the teams trooped off the pitch at half-time after an even match, but second half goals from Sukhmanjit Singh (49th) and Tirkey Amon Misrah (70th) gave them the three points.
  RESULTS: New Zealand 3 Pakistan 3, Australia 0 India 2, Malaysia 3 Germany 2.
  Today: Australia v Pakistan (4pm), Germany v India (6pm), Malaysia v New Zealand (8pm).


STANDINGS

              P  W  D  L  F  A Pts
MALAYSIA      1  1  0  0  3  2  3
INDIA         1  1  0  0  2  0  3
PAKISTAN      1  0  1  0  3  3  1
N ZEALAND     1  0  1  0  3  3  1
GERMANY       1  0  0  1  2  3  0
AUSTRALIA     1  0  0  1  0  2  0



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India outshine Australia 2-0..

India defeated Australia 2-0 in their opening match of the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium.

  And it was a remarkable and disciplined display that got them all three points after a 0-0 first half.

 India took the lead in the 49^th minute through Sukhmanjit Singh via a cleveryly worked penalty corner.

 And a goal in the final minute by Tirkey Amon Misrah sealed the win for India.