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Saturday November 7, 2009

Malaysia out to break the jinx in World Cup qualifiers

By S. RAMAGURU

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian hockey team have not had any luck when it comes to qualifiers over the last six years.

In fact, the last three qualifiers have all proved disastrous.

In 2004, Malaysia had Paul Lissek as coach for the Olympic qualifiers in Madrid. The team needed a top five placing to qualify for the Athens Olympics but ended up in sixth spot.

In 2006, the team needed a top-six finish at the World Cup qualifiers in Changzhou. But Wallace Tan’s men ended up in ninth spot.

Last year, with Sarjit Singh as coach, they featured in the Olympic qualifiers in Japan where only the champions would make the cut. Unfortunately for Malaysia, they had Germany for company and lost out to the eventual Olympic gold medallists.

So, can Malaysia finally put an end to their qualifying jinx when the World Cup qualifiers in Invercargill, New Zealand, begin today?

Faizal Saari is one of the young guns in the Malaysian team

National interim coach Tai Beng Hai is confident they can despite the many problems that the team have had in their preparation for the qualifiers.

“It is fifty-fifty ... we have just as good a chance as the other teams. We are well prepared. Although we have several youngsters, they have shown promise and can be counted on to deliver. New Zealand and China loom as our immediate threats but I will take the other three teams seriously too,” he said yesterday.

“There is no doubt that we need to take it one step at a time. Our first objective is to make the final.”

The team open their campaign against Austria today. Both teams met at the Champions Challenge II in Dublin recently, with the Malaysians just edging it 3-2.

“The Austrians play a hard game and will fight till the end. We need to exploit their weaknesses early and get the goals. Otherwise, we will only make it hard for ourselves. It is important that we start well and the match against Austria is an important one,” said Beng Hai.

Malaysia have enough experience although Faizal Saari, Mohd Marhan Mohd Jalil and Ahmad Kasamirul Nasruddin are from the junior squad.

The recall of Jiwa Mohan lends experience to the back line. Apart from providing leadership qualities, he and goalkeeper S. Kumar certainly give the backline an air of confidence.

But it is the front line that must buck up if Malaysia are to progress to the World Cup Finals in New Delhi in March.

The likes of Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, S. Selvaraju, Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim and Azlan Misron have enough tournaments under their belts and need to prove their mettle now.

But Beng Hai is likely to rely on the 18-year-old Faizal to spearhead the attack.

His pace and jinking runs into the D have made him an effective forward, though he still lacks support from the others.

The coach is also counting on the penalty corner flickers to raise their game at the qualifiers.

Mohd Amin is the top flicker and Malaysia will need him to be at the top of his game.

Jiwa is the second flicker, although Malaysia have a variety of options in their executions.

“If we get the moves right, we will score. It is important that players execute the moves right and ensure they understand each other’s play. We have done our home work ... now it’s time for the players to deliver,” said Beng Hai.

Surely for the players there is no better incentive than to qualify for the World Cup Finals.

The stage is now set for them to put those last three disastrous qualifiers behind them and do Malaysia proud.

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