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MALAYSIA were caught napping in the first five minutes of the match, and went down 3-2 to Britain in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru yesterday.
Now, they must beat India and Pakistan in their next matches to secure a third-fourth classification match, the least.
"A good fightback but individual mistakes crept in and we let in two early goals. However, I am proud of my players as they tried to make a comaback, but time was not on their side," said Malaysian coach Arul Selvaraj.
"Against India tomorrow (today) my personal target is to gain another set of experience, and try and reduce the cards as we need the numbers on the field consistently," said Arul.
Britain were so great that they never let Malaysia settle down by scoring two quick field goals in the first five minutes of play.
The damage was inflicted by James Boon in the third minute, and it was followed by another field goal by David Goodfield in the fifth minute.
It was supposed to be an uphill battle against the tournament favourites, but Malaysia folded and crumbled too early and only started playing hockey 10 minutes into the match.
The same old mistakes that the players commited against New Zealand crept into the Malaysian game, and the score stood 2-0 at the breather.
Skipper Haziq Samsul injected some hope into his team-mates with a darting run in the first minute of the second half, and his pass saw Mohamed Rohulamin slapping in past Britain's goalkeeper Harry Gibson, who was beaten for the first time in this tournament.
However, the fire was doused by Luke Taylor in a 63rd minute penalty corner attempt which made the score 3-1.
Shahril Saabah re-ignited the fire a minute later when he scored a sizzling penalty corner drag flick to narrow the gap to 2-3 in the 64th minute, but the Brits ran down the clock and walked away with full points.
India hit a sixer past Pakistan, and coach Harindra is now looking for a similar performance against Malaysia today.
"This is a junior tournament and my players have been improving slowly in some of the departments, and we hope to carry this momentum into our next match (against Malaysia)," said India coach Harendra Singh.
And his take on the hosts thus far: "Malaysia are a good side and with home support I think it will be an exciting match. However, as these are junior players they need to be let loose to sind their identity and there should not be rigid play," said HArendra.
Australia staged a super fightback when they came back from three goals down to beat New Zealand 4-3 to take a step closer to playing in the final.
It was a display of clinical finishing and tremendous team spirit that saw the Aussies come back from the dead: "We had to make changes in strategy to save the match and more importantly, a situation like this will help boost the players development, which is what we are here for," said Australian coach Ben Bishop.
After clawing back to 3-3, the match winner was delivered by 16-year-old Max Hendry from an acute angle.
RESULTS: Australia 4 New Zealand 3; India 6 Pakistan 0; Malaysia 2 Great Britain 3.
TODAY: New Zealand v Pakistan (4pm); Malaysia v India (6pm); Britain v Australia (8pm).
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
G BRITAIN 3 3 0 0 10 2 9
AUSTRALIA 3 2 1 0 7 5 7
INDIA 3 2 0 1 8 3 6
N ZEALAND 3 0 1 2 5 7 1
MALAYSIA 3 0 1 2 4 6 1
PAKISTAN 3 0 1 2 1 12 1
By Jugjet Singh
COMMENT
AFTER two decades of watching and writing about hockey, it can be safely concluded that the Malaysian team is still struggling to connect the third dot, and still do not have a clue on how to hold on, and work a lead into a win.
The Sultan of Johor Cup is like watching a replay of Arul Selvaraj and his team-mates play in the 1998 Utrecth World Cup. The same mistakes the current coach and his team-mates made decades ago, are being replayed by his charges in Johor Baru.
Arul admitted that the third pass was lacking in his charges, as after two brilliant moves, connecting the third dot is still elusive and that is why the goals are hard to come by. Then there is the sore point of discipline, like pushing the ball away after the whistle is blown and earning a card for this stupidity, and pushing the ball out deliberately at the back line and giving away a penalty corner.
Also after taking a lead, the present batch of defenders seem to enter sleep mode, and this was exactly the same problem with previous junior and senior sides. In Utrecth, we had many promising players, but still, they went on to finish 11th out of 12 teams. And their only achievement was a 1-1 draw in Group B against Poland, and then a 5-4 win over Poland in the 11th-12th placing match.
England, Spain, Australia and Pakistan hammered Arul and his mates in Utrecth, but the player-turned coach is now tasked with trying to help his charges connect the dot, and hold on to a winning start.
In the Sultan of Johor Cup, Malaysia took the lead against Australia, but lost 2-1. And then took the lead against New Zealand, but then gave away a 1-1 draw to the Kiwis.
Arul summarised that except for three, the other 15 players have not even played in the Malaysia Hockey League, leave alone an international match. And that was why they were too excited before the Australia match, and could not settle down even after 70 minutes.
There was better composure against New Zealand, but sill, the holding power was lacking. And today, they are expected to face their toughest match of the tournament against raging favourites Britain.
The British have brought down almost the same side which played in the previous SOJC and have scored seven goals in two matches, without conceeding a goal.
They blasted Pakistan 5-0 and then India 2-0. Malaysia are the third Asian side in their line of fire, and it could be a massacre at Taman Daya if the players go on sleep mode more often than attack mode.
The plus side is that Malaysia have showed that they are the fittest side in the tournament, and have better skills than players from Pakistan and India. And only missing from the recipe to success was building on the third pass in the opponents 25-yerd line.
For, Arul has uncut gems in his palms, and he needs to be careful when he shapes them, because once cut, diamonds remain the same shape for millions of years.
If Arul can grind the right attitude into these boys in the SOJC, winning the Junior Asia Cup and qualifying for the 2016 Junior World Cup would be a breeze and not a heart-break.
Note: Arul Selvaraj's Hockey CV explains: 81 international caps for Malaysia and I retired after the 1998 Utrecth World Cup age 24. My personal phlosophy is that coaching is NOT just being present on the field during matches or training sessions, but more of an individual who is able to adapt as a friend, teacher, manager and physologist to my charges.
WEDNESDAY: Australia v New Zealand (4pm); India v Pakistan (6pm); Malaysia v Great Britain (8pm).
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
G BRITAIN 2 2 0 0 7 0 6
AUSTRALIA 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
INDIA 2 1 0 1 2 3 3
MALAYSIA 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
N ZEALAND 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
PAKISTAN 2 0 1 1 1 6 1
DAY 2 --- SULTAN OF JOHOR CUP RESULTS: Great Britain 2 India 0; Australia 1 Pakistan 1; Malaysia 1 New Zealand 1.
TODAY: REST DAY:
WEDNESDAY: Australia v New Zealand (4pm); India v Pakistan (6pm); Malaysia v Great Britain (8pm).
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
G BRITAIN 2 2 0 0 7 0 6
AUSTRALIA 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
INDIA 2 1 0 1 2 3 3
MALAYSIA 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
N ZEALAND 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
PAKISTAN 2 0 1 1 1 6 1
THE Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) held their ExtraOrdinary General Meeting (EGM) in Johor Baru yesterday and president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah stood his ground of not seeking re-election, and stopped short of naming a replacement.
After amendments to the MHC constitution were agreed to, Tengku Abdullah said: "I will not seek re-election, and was supposed to name my candidate for the post today, but will hold my tongue."
This is because the projected elections in November might have to be held next year, as the amendments to constitution needs to be endorsed by the sports commissioner's office.
"Hopefully the amendments are endorsed before November, so I can name my candidate early," said Tengku Abdullah.
Selangor HA president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal is highly tipped to take over the hot MHC seat in November or January.
On another note, Tengku Abdullah said he prefers coach Arul Selvaraj to remain with the juniors, and a foreign coach to take charge of the seniors.
"I prefer Arul to take charge the juniors as we look for a foreign coach for the seniors. Meanwhile, he (Arul) can coach both the teams," said Tengku Abdullah.
MALAYSIA gave away a 2-1 victory to Australia in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru yesterday.
There were patches of brilliance, but too many unforced errors which saw coach Arul Selvaraj's men fall at the final hurdle of every move.
Malaysian goalkeeper Ridzwan Azmi brought off two fantastic penalty corner saves in the opening
minutes of play, which set the tempo for a sizzling and extertaining match till the last whistle.
And just four minutes into play, Malaysia won a penalty stroke and skipper Haziq Samsul scored from the spot for the lead, and the capacity crowd went wild chanting and drumming patriotic songs.
But Australia showed their might minutes later as Will Gilmour equalised in the 9th minute, as the entire defense stood rooted.
And even though Malaysia fought for possession gallantly and tried to claw back the lead, it was Joshua Bretherton's easy attempt which sailed in, in the 18th minute, to give Australia a 2-1 lead.
The hosts were placed under tremendous pressure by the taller Aussies in the final five minutes of the first half, where the difference was that the Australian defense were solid and rarely made mistakes, while the Malaysian defenders kept giving away penalty corners.
After the breather Malaysia looked much more energetic, but were again let down by poor trapping in the Australian semi-circle, with Shahril Saabah, who has played with the senior side, making the most number of mistakes.
With 10 minuntes remaining, Malaysia started to make more mistakes as Australia moved forward with confidence to increase their lead, but the score stood and now they must beat another Oceania side New Zealand today to keep their hopes alive of playing in the final.
In the SOJC curtain raiser, Great Britain made their debut by hammering Pakistan 5-0.
It was magnificent performance from Great Britain even after their match was delayed for an hour after only three minutes of play, due to a heavy downpour.
" We won with a good margin but I feel we could have played better, " said Great Britain coach Jon Bleby.
However, it was Luke Tahlor's hat-trick which gave them the edge, and made Pakistan look like novices.
I another match, India had the bettter of New Zealand when they won 2-1 via goals from Parvinder Singh (5th) and Varun Kumar (43rd). The Kiwi goal was scored by Nic Woods (53rd).
RESULTS: Malaysia 1 Australia 2; Pakistan 0 Great Britain 5; India 2 New Zealand 1.
TODAY: Great Britain v India (4pm); Australia v Pakistan (6pm); Malaysia v New Zealand (8pm).
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
G BRITAIN 1 1 0 0 5 0 3
AUSTRALIA 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
INDIA 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
MALAYSIA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
N ZEALAND 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
PAKISTAN 1 0 0 1 0 5 0
