Malaysia, after overcoming a shaky start, went on to beat Brazil 6-0 in a Group B match on the opening day of the FIH Men’s Series Finals, Kuala Lumpur 2019 at the National Hockey Stadium, KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil.
Brazil, ranked World No 27, kept things tight to deny 13th ranked Malaysia to two penalty corner attempts in the first half which the hosts failed to convert.
On the restart of the second half, Malaysia finally managed to find a way through the resilient Brazilian defence in the 32nd minute with Norsyafiq Sumantri tapping into an empty goal after a receiving a delightful pass from Tengku Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil from the right.
From their third penalty corner, Najmi Farizal Jazlan extended Malaysia’s lead when he lashed home six minutes later.
Fitri Saari then put his name on the scoresheet in the 48th minute when he blasted home a rebound. This was followed by Meor Azuan Hassan’s field goal five minutes later.
By this time the Speedy Tigers were on a roll and in the 54th minute Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal and then Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim two minutes later sealed Malaysia’s emphatic win with a goal each through penalty corners. The win puts the hosts in good stead for their next match against China on Sunday.
“We needed to find space and we managed to do that with the way we played,” said Malaysia’s head coach Roelant Oltmans.
“In the second half, we managed to find space and once we got the opening goal we managed to play our game and the goals came.
“We managed to convert three penalty corners from a total of seven which is around 42 per cent. We hope to continue with this kind of performance for the whole tournament.”
Malaysia sit on top of Group B after Italy, ranked 32 in the world, upset 14th ranked China 2-1 in an earlier match for the Italians’ most famous win in world hockey.
Italy’s goals came courtesy of Julian Montone through a penalty corner in the ninth minute and a field goal by Agustin Nunez in the 49th which proved to be the winner after Lin Tu Yuan’s equalised for China from a penalty corner in the 29th minute.
In Group A, Wales, ranked 24th in the world, upset World No 10, Canada 3-1 to strengthen their hope of finishing in the top two of the group.
Wales got their goals through James Carson via a penalty corner in the 30th minute followed by a field goal by Luke Hawker three minutes later before Joseph Naughalty rounded off the scoring three minutes from time.
Canada’s consolation goal was scored by Iain Smythe in the 42nd minute.
“Our ranking is not reflective of our squad’s capabilities. Physically, we managed to acclimatise very well to the climate,” said Wales’ coach Daniel Newcombe.
“We took our chances well. Today our conversion rate was up there with the best teams in the world.”
Also in Group A, Austria opened their campaign with a thumping 5-0 win over Belarus in an all-European affair.
The floodgates opened as early as the 10th minute when Franz Lindegrun lashed home from inside the semi-circle followed by goals from Dominic Uher (penalty corner), Robert Bele, Fabian Unterkircher and Leon Thornblom.
Results – Group A: Austria 5 Belarus 0, Canada 1 Wales 3.
Group B: China 1 Italy 2, Malaysia 6 Brazil 0.
