Malaysia’s head coach Amin Rahim strongly believes that the Young Tigers will be a transformed side when they compete in the 13th Junior World Cup on December 5 in front of home fans at the National Hockey Stadium.
Consistency, said Amin, was the biggest problem that faced the Malaysians in the Junior Asia Cup in Oman and at the 11th edition of the Sultan of Johor Cup in Johor Bahru recently.
“In Oman, we played fantastic hockey in the first two quarters and then made too many errors in the third and fourth quarters, and in the SOJC they played totally differently in each quarter.
“My players were made to understand this situation, and they are now better prepared to play consistently for 60 minutes. And consistency is what will win us the first match against Chile, after which we will take one match at a time,” said Amin.
At the SOJC, the Young Tigers started on the back foot at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium and were left struggling chasing the leads after allowing their opponents to score easy goals in the early part of the first quarter.
For the record, Malaysia scored the first goal against India but eventually lost 1-3 in their round-robin match. And Amin acknowledged that the Young Tigers cannot afford to be in the same situation at the National Stadium.
“Yes, it’s our stadium, our weather, our food, and our fans, so we must use this to our advantage to win all our group matches. No excuses, as I believe my players can qualify for the next stage (quarter-finals),” said Amin.
Drawn in Group A, Malaysia after Chile take on defending champions Argentina and Australia.
“We played Chile in the 2021 Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar and defeated them 2-1 in our group match. So, we need to go into the match with the same kind of confidence and momentum,” added Amin.
The juniors will play a warm-up match against India on (tomorrow) Sunday, and Amin is more interested in creating a strong structure and consistent play against the Indians. The score, he says, does not matter.
