SHORTCOMING TO BE CORRECTED

Coach Van Huizen deals with short corner problems before Asia Cup

MALAYSIA are on a mission to work on their penalty corner conversions ahead of the Asia Cup in Dhaka. The team will have a chance to try out new variations when they play Japan in a friendly tomorrow at Maulana Bhasani Stadium.

They have fond memories of the stadium as it was where they won gold in the World League Round Two in March.

"Yes, we did have problems scoring off penalty corners in this venue in March, but still we won the tournament

"We will utilise the friendly (against Japan) to work on penalty corners as the pitch drags differently," said national coach Stephen van Huizen in Dhaka yesterday.

Malaysia netted only six goals from penalty corners in the world league tournament in Dhaka through Razie Rahim (four goals) and Sharil Saabah (two goals).

Comparatively, tournament top-scorer Johnny Botsio of Ghana netted 13 goals, 11 of them off penalty corners, followed by China’s Du Talake (nine goals from penalty corners).

Even Bangladesh had a better penalty corner scoring rate over Malaysia with Mamunur Rahman Chayan netting seven goals.

In the Asia Cup, Malaysia are in Group B with China, South Korea and Oman, while Group A comprise India, Pakistan, Japan and Bangladesh.

The tournament doubles up as a World Cup qualifier with Malaysia, India and Pakistan having already qualified.

"Our flickers have a few days to get used to the pitch, and hopefully they are able to perform better this time. We also have a strong strikeforce,” Van Huizen added.