Hockey: Malaysia must beat Italians or bust

KUAL A LUMPU R: The Malaysian Tigresses are in a mustwin mission to upset favourites Italy in the Women’s Hockey World League ( WHWL) Round Two semifinals on Saturday, to secure a berth into the next round of the league.

As only the top two finishers from this tournament will get automatic berths to the WHWL Semifinals Round to be played in two different editions, in Belgium and South Africa, a win against Italy, ranked 15th in the world, is crucial to secure a place in the Semifinals Round, which is the last qualification avenue for the 2018 World Cup.

Though two top three finishers from the three editions of Round

They (Italy) are better ranked than us, play regularly in the world league and are very skilful. They have a very solid and excellent team but we have nothing to lose in that match, so we will play an attacking game to get goals.

Two in Malaysia, Spain and Canada will also advance to the Semifinals Round based on rankings, the presence of better ranked teams like world number 11 and host Spain, Scotland (17), Poland (20) at the Valencia edition to be played from Feb 4-12 pose great danger to the Malaysian squad.

As for the West Vancouver edition, India (12), Canada (18) and Belarus (19) are also ranked better than Malaysia, which means a third place finish at the Malaysian edition of WHWL Round Two is risky for the national side.

However, nat ional coach Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah promised that his girls would ‘go all out’ against the Italians to secure the crucial win to advance to the final at the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium here Saturday.

“They ( Italy) are better ranked than us, play regularly in the world league and are very skilful. They have a very solid and excellent team but we have nothing to lose in that match, so we will play an attacking game to get goals.

Malaysia advanced to the semifinals after finishing second in Group B with a 9- 0 win against Hong Kong, 13- 1 win against Kazakhstan and a 1- 2 defeat to Ireland before defeating Thailand 3- 0 in the quarterfinals Thursday. Italy have not lost a match in the tournament, winning 3- 0 against Wales, 5- 0 against Thailand and 9- 0 against Singapore before trouncing Hong Kong 7- 0 in another quarterfinal match Thursday. — Bernama

Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah, national coach