Malaysia’s Young Tigers did everything they could to register a win against Belgium in the Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup classification match, but eventually lost 3-5 in penalty shootouts after both teams played to a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Coach Amin Rahim’s youngsters will now play against the loser of the South Africa and New Zealand match, which is being played now to determine the 11-12th placing on Friday.
The winner of that match, will play against Belgium in the 9th/10th classification match.
The Malaysians failed to take advantage of eight penalty corners that came their way, while the Belgians had five in the match that was halted at halftime for half an hour because of heavy downpour.
Adam Ashraf scored in the 37th minute via open play and Haris Iskandar Osman equalised in the 51st minute with a penalty stroke conversion after Max Lyten (28th) and Hugo Labouchere had pushed Belgium into a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Egypt and South Korea were overjoyed at winning their JWC 13-16th placings classification matches earlier today.
The Egyptians, who lost all three Pool B preliminary round matches, were all smiles after securing 3-2 victory in penalty shootout against Canada. The match ended in a 1-1 draw in regulation time.
South Korea also rode on a 2-1 win against Chile with goals from Taewon Seo (52nd minutes) and DaeHyun Kim (54th minutes). Egypt and Korea will now play for the 13-14th placings, while Canada and Chile will battle for the 15-16th positions.
WHAT THE COACHES SAID:
Mohamad Amin Rahim, Malaysia coach, said:
“I have faith in the potential of my players, I believe in this team and you can see when they had ‘switched on’ they played all out. Today the team showed its prowess in attacking and defence as well. We were down 2-0, and the players never gave up. They fought hard for the equaliser.
It was a good fight-back and team effort. We showed our potential, although late in the tournament and I hope the players will learn from this experience and take it to the next level.
As for the eight penalty corners, only one was flicked wide, but the others went straight, only to be saved by the Belgium goalkeeper and defenders.”
Jeroen Baart, Belgium coach, said:
“It was difficult playing in the heavy rain. I think the Malaysian players are used to this kind of rain. It never rains like this in Belgium. The reason why we struggled today is that the Malaysians played very well, and they fought hard. And they did what they are very good at. Our defenders did a good job too by not letting in penalty corner goals.
It’s okay to give one or two penalty corners, but today we gave away too many and in the end, they (Malaysians) got what they deserved – a penalty stroke. I’m very happy to keep our heads calm, and I’m very proud of the boys. Nevertheless, the disappointment of not making the q-finals is still there.
RESULTS: 9-12th Classification – Belgium 2 Malaysia 2 (Belgium won 5-3 in the penalty shootout)
13-16th Classifications: South Korea 2 Chile 1; Egypt 1 Canada 1 (Egypt won 3-2 in the penalty shootout).
