“We have nothing to fear, even without some of our better players.”
STEPHEN VAN HUIZEN National hockey coach
MALAYSIA have no one to fear but themselves when they start their World League Round Two campaign against hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka today.
Even though the best players are not available for the preWorld Cup qualifier due to weddings, injuries and family commitments, coach Stephen van Huizen’s men pack enough power to beat every team assembled here.
Malaysia’s world ranking is 13, way above their Group A opponents Bangladesh (32nd), Oman (31st) and Fiji (not ranked).
Group B is no better as China are 18th while Ghana, Egypt and Sri Lanka are not ranked among the world’s 35 hockey playing nations.
The national players had a sparring session with China and won 2-1 in two 15-minute halves, and they did not even hit 50 per cent of their capabilities.
Bangladesh had a worse outing as in their three friendlies against Ghana, they lost 2-0, drew 2-2 and won 2-1.
“Training matches do not say anything about the strength of teams.
“It is just for warm-up and teams do not push themselves. However, we have nothing to fear, even without some of our better players as our target here is to play in the final first to qualify for the World League Semi-finals and the second target is to win gold,” said van Huizen.
Both targets should be easy to reach, if the players believe in themselves like they did in the last World League Round Two in Singapore where they hammered Poland 8-0 for the gold.
Team manager Nasihin Nubli gave an 80 per cent thumbs up to the newly laid blue artificial pitch at the 1971-built stadium.
“It’s well laid, except for certain parts where it is difficult for players to dribble as they can’t drag the ball left to right to beat an opponent as it is very coarse.
“But every team will experience the same and it should pose no problem in our campaign,” said Nasihin.
Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, who made his Malaysian debut in the 2005 Rotterdam Junior World Cup, said even though many players are not available for Dhaka, the replacements are equally good.
“I would say that those who replaced players who could not make it here are no rookies, as they have played in many internationals before.
“We might start slow against Bangladesh, but I am confident we will win,” said Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin who scored 13 goals in the MHL and was also pivotal in helping Terengganu Hockey Team win the TNB Cup.
Malaysia only have 17 players in Dhaka, with Faiz Helmi only arriving tomorrow after his wedding.
TODAY — Group A: Oman v Fiji (3.45pm), Malaysia v Bangladesh (6pm); Group B: China v Ghana (11am), Egypt v Sri Lanka (1.30pm) —