‘Cornered’ to deliver
Razie, Faizal eye higher conversion rate to help Malaysia slay 2014 ghost
NATIONAL hockey players Muhd Razie Abdul Rahim and Faizal Saari are fired up to erase Malaysia’s World Cup misery four years ago where the country finished as the wooden spoonist among 12 teams.
Both players vow to do their part by perfecting their penalty corner executions.
In 2014, Razie converted only three penalty corners in his first World Cup in The Hague, Holland, while Faizal failed to score a single goal in six matches.
Now Razie and Faizal, who are among the world’s top 10 penalty corner drag flickers, mean business when Malaysia open their campaign in Group D against three-time world champions Holland at the Kalinga Stadium today.
The other teams in their group are former world champions Pakistan and Germany.
The 31-year-old Razie eyes a memorable second World Cup and is out to end his goalless run against Holland.
“The challenge is for me to get it right against the Dutch team, who are the favourites to win the World Cup,” said Razie.
“Holland play a disciplined game and their strikers are skilful and deadly in the semi-circle. They’re physically bigger than us – but we should not be intimidated.
“Instead, we should use our speed and skills to get past their defence to create chances.
“We also have to create as many chances as possible to give them a run for their money,” said the police inspector.
Razie suffered a hamstring injury during September’s Asian Games in Jakarta and did not feature in the Asian Champions Trophy in Oman in October.
“I need to score from penalty corners against Holland to regain my confidence after the short break because of the hamstring injury.
“I’ll bring my A game and hopefully all the forwards will play their parts too to earn as many penalty corners as possible,” added Razie, who scored once during Test matches against New Zealand last week.
Nippy forward Faizal wants to give Malaysia a brilliant start.
“A good start will help us to finish in the top three to qualify for the second round,” said Faizal, who won the top scorer award in the Asian Champions Trophy in Oman with eight goals last month.
“I didn’t score at the last World Cup but I’ll go all out to break Holland’s defence to get it right this time.”