Malaysia’s glaring weakness is inability to score field goals
MALAYSIA’S glaring weakness in the on-going Hockey World Cup is the inability to score field goals.
After three group matches Malaysia netted four goals – all from penalty corners.
Defender Muhd Razie Abdul Rahim proved his mettle yet again with penalty corner goals in consecutive world cups.
In his first World Cup in The Hague, Holland in 2014, the Kuala Lumpur-born player converted three goals from penalty corners in six matches. Malaysia finished last among the 12 teams in the fray.
In the on-going edition in Bhubaneswar, India, the police inspector netted two penalty corners in the Group D match against Germany, which Malaysia lost 3-5 on Sunday.
Malaysia earned a total of 16 penalty corners in three group matches and converted four into goals.
Faizal Saari scored one against Pakistan on Dec 5, which Malaysia drew 1-1 while Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor netted one in the match against Germany.
In the opening match against Holland on Dec 1, Malaysia were outplayed 7-0.
Malaysia conceded 13 goals and scored four in three matches.
The Malaysian forward line, led by Faizal, was a big letdown as they failed to score a single field goal.
The other strikers in the team are Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil, Muhd Firhan Ashari, Mohd Ramadan Rosli, Nik Muhd Aiman Nik Rozemi and Norsyafiq Sumantri.
Tengku and Firhan scored a goal each in the 2014 World Cup but they fired blanks in Bhubaneswar.
The 31-year-old Muhd Razie said that he was not pleased with his performance and his conversion rate.
“We conceded more goals than we scored in the three group matches and it clearly shows that our team cannot defend well.
“Letting in seven goals against Holland was a real blow for us. Our conversion rate is also bad as we earned seven penalty corners against Pakistan but only managed to score one,” said Razie.
“Overall we failed to play as an unit and let the nation down. It is a wake-up call for us to prepare better in our bid to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.”