Malaysia ready to take on desperate South Korea in Group B tie
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia are ready for an expected South Korean onslaught when the two teams meet in a Group B match of the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka today.
Defending champions South Korea are taking the tournament seriously as they know that retaining the Asia Cup title will earn them a spot in next year’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India.
Malaysia, Pakistan and India have already qualified for the World Cup Finals.
The records favour South Korea as they have won the Asia Cup four times since its inception in Karachi in 1992. Malaysia’s best was finishing third in Chennai in 2007.
If that’s not enough, South Korea have also recalled four seasoned campaigners for the Asia Cup. The four are Lee Seung-il, Kim Youngjin, Kang Moon-kyu and Lee Seunghoon.
Both Malaysia and South Korea began their Asia Cup campaigns in impressive fashions. Malaysia trounced China 7-1 while South Korea whipped Oman 7-2 on Thursday.
The last time the two teams met, Malaysia edged South Korea 1-0 in the World League Semi-Finals in London in June.
National coach Stephen van Huizen, who guided Malaysia to fourth spot in London to qualify for 2018 World Cup, admitted that the South Koreans would be desperate to beat them to qualify for the Super Four.
“Our recent matches against South Korea have always been close. Anyway, the pressure will be on them to collect full points against us,” said Stephen.
“They have recalled a few senior players because they know that this is their last chance to qualify for the World Cup.
“What’s important for us is that we take it one game at a time and stay focused for the full 60 minutes.
“The Koreans plays a fast attacking game, so we have to make sure we match their work rate.
“We also need to cut down on our mistakes and avoid giving away unnecessary penalty corners because have good drag flickers.”
The South Koreans will be relying on penalty corner specialist Jang Jong-hyun to get the goals while the Malaysians will be banking on veteran goalkeeper S. Kumar to thwart them.