The Malaysian Tigress lost 1-2 to Japan in the Bihar Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Rajgir 2024 on Saturday.
It was the Malaysians’ third defeat in four matches in the ongoing ACT. After enduring a 0-4 loss to India, followed by a 0-5 defeat against China, the Tigress celebrated a 2-1 victory over the South Koreans, ranked World No.15 in their third match last Friday.
The Malaysians and Japanese eye crucial wins in this showdown.
Speaking in a post-match interview, head coach Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim said: “We did not have a good start, and also did not give Japan opportunities to score. However, after taking the lead it showed that most of our younger players were adapting and playing well. They have had good games since our first match against India.”
“However, the lack of discipline in the fourth quarter gave the Japanese a lot of space in their counter-attacks that resulted in a field goal and a penalty corner conversion. It is disappointing to lose this match after earning several penalty corner chances in the last quarter,” added Nasihin.
“Our next match is against Thailand and we will have to play for an outright win. We need three points to stay in the semifinals race,” he said.
In earlier matches, defending champions and World No. 9 India continued their winning streak by defeating China 3-0. The World No 6-ranked side is without the bulk of the players who won the silver medal in the recent Paris Olympics, while South Korea defeated Thailand 4-0.
With 12 points, India have moved to the top of the points table, replacing China who dropped to second spot (9 pts). Japan is in third spot (5 pts), followed by South Korea in fourth spot (4 pts), Malaysia in fifth (3 pts) and Thailand at the bottom with one point.
Forward Nur Iman Adawiyah Mohd Suhaimi, an 18-year-old national junior squad player, who earned her fourth international cap today, found the opening in the 26th minute to give the Malaysians the lead.
Ranked World No 11, Japan had earlier struggled to find goals in three quarters despite earning four penalty corners at that stage. However, a blunder in the Malaysian defence within a space of two minutes in the fourth quarter secured the Japanese their moment of glory.
Shiho Kobayakaya restored parity through a field goal in the 49th minute before Miyu Hasegawa, who has 38 international caps, did what the Malaysians feared the most. She converted a penalty corner in the 51st minute from Japan’s fifth attempt to give her side a 2-1 lead.
The Malaysians, however, held possession in the remaining five minutes to the end of regulation time. They earned five penalty corners but could not dismantle a tight Japanese defence until the final hooter.
The Tigress’ hopes of a top-four finish that would qualify them for the semifinals now rest on several equations. Firstly, they will have to win by a big margin against Thailand in their last pool match on Sunday (Oct 17), and then pray for divine intervention in the matches between India-Japan and China-Korea.
Should India and China continue their winning streaks, the Malaysians are bound to follow through should they also win against the Thais alongside the Japanese into the last four.
The Japanese were today led by three senior players – Shiho Kobayakawa (58 caps), Miyu Hasegawa (38 caps) and team captain Saki Tanaka (28 caps), while Junon Kawai has 12 caps and the rest of the team have three caps each.
On the Malaysian side team captain Juliani Mohamad Din is the most experienced player with 207 caps. The team is also supported by 10 players from the Oman-bound Junior Asia Cup team.