TALL ORDER FOR MALAYSIA AGAINST HOLLAND IN WORLD CUP

Malaysia face three-time world champs Holland in opening match

THE records show that Holland are head and shoulders above Malaysia in the hockey World Cup.

But national coach Roelant Oltmans said the records do not reflect the current form of the three-time world champions.

“We have a good team too. But I must say that Holland have a solid team and they are among the favourites to win the World Cup,” said Oltmans from Bhubaneswar, India, yesterday.

“They play a fast attacking match and their forwards are deadly once in the semi-circle.

“They also have three good penalty corner drag flickers and the challenge will be on us to stop them,” said Oltmans.

Holland’s drag flickers are Mink van der Weerden, Jeroen Hertzberger and Mirco Pruyser.

“We have to stay on our toes as they can switch their game fast,” said Dutchman Oltmans. Malaysia open their campaign against Holland on Saturday.

According to the record books, Malaysia have played the Dutch team 33 times and the European team won a whopping 28 times, drew twice and lost three times.

In the World Cup history, they played each other four times and Malaysia only won once.

Holland have qualified for the World Cup final six times since the inception of the tournament in Barcelona in 1971. They have won the title three times in 1973, Lahore in 1990 and Utrecht, Holland in 1998.

Oltmans said the Malaysian team played a friendly match against France at the Kalinga Stadium on Tuesday and lost 0-1.

“I’m not too concerned with the score as I wanted the players to have a feel of playing on the pitch,” he said, adding that he was satisfied with the pitch conditions.

Oltmans said the focus now is the mental preparation of the players for the opening match.

“We need to come up with a game plan to stop the Dutch team and that is not an easy task.

“We are in the group of death where we will also have Germany and Pakistan to deal with,” he said.

“Our aim is to get into the top 10 bracket and get closer to the eighth position. There are many teams that can become champions under the current format.

“We may not be one of them but like all teams, we have a chance. We need to stay focused on the task and play hard,” he said.

Malaysia’s best finish was a fourth placing when they were the hosts in 1975. In 2002, they finished in eighth place, also at home.

Twin terrors: Malaysia must keep a close watch on Holland’s best penalty corner flickers Jeroen Hertzberger and Mink van der Weerden (left pic) in their opening hockey World Cup match.