National Hockey Head Coach, A. Arulselvaraj has called on his chargers to improve on their defensive qualities ahead of their second clash in the FIH Hockey Men's Nations Cup South Africa 2022 against Canada tomorrow evening in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
This follows the team’s narrow 1-0 loss to Korea in their opening Group B game earlier this evening.
It was certainly not the start that Arulselvaraj had envisioned but he feels confident that improvements are on the cards for the clash against the Canadians.
“We need to improve on our defensive qualities in terms of marking and positioning. We need to do better quickly,” said Arulselvaraj.
“Even though we lost the match (to Korea), I felt that the players played with a lot of passion and disciplined especially in the fourth quarter when we had to play with a man less for about ten minutes.
“Our players showed a lot of tenacity and also plenty of vigour when compared to the Koreans.”
It was the Koreans who were more aggressive right from the onset and where, it took them just five minutes to smash in the lead when Jang Jonghyun found the space and time to convert a Penalty Corner.
Malaysia would then fight back with Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal’s 16th minute attempt from the right narrowly missing the target.
It was Korea’s turn to push forward four minutes later but Muhammad Hafizuddin Othman was on hand to deny a Penalty Corner as the game then went up tempo soon after.
