Malaysia registered a 5-3 victory over New Zealand to complete their
journey in the 13 th Sultan of Johor Cup in fifth spot at the Johor Hockey
Stadium in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru on Saturday.
With the win the Malaysians maintained their supremacy in the 13 th edition
of the SOJC having beaten them 4-2 in the round-robin stage on October 14.
Faced with temperatures of 34 degrees Celsius, the Kiwis and Malaysians
struggled with the heat and humidity at the start of the match.
Malaysia’s head coach, Nor Saiful Zaini, said: “Our preparation over these
four to five months seems good. However, there are still weaknesses that
we’ve identified, especially in winning matches against teams like Australia,
Great Britain, and India. We are not far behind them, but we haven’t been
able to win. So, I think this tournament is good for learning before the
World Cup. Perhaps there’s a certain percentage we can improve to be even
better at the World Cup.
“With the hot weather we faced today, even New Zealand couldn’t play 100
per cent their game. So, our win seemed easy. Regardless, in this kind of
weather, we managed to beat New Zealand twice. This is a good result,
positive for the players, and we want them to keep progressing.”
The Young Tigers got off the blocks on the right foot. In a sudden surge of
speed, the Malaysians caught the Kiwis off guard with the first penalty
corner and Muhammad Harris Iskandar Osman calmly placed the ball into
the net past goalkeeper Matthew Ruetsch for the opening goal.
There was no looking back for the Malaysians after that as their forwards
mounted pressure on the Kiwis and went 2-0 ahead in the 10 th minute
through Muhammad Haziq Zunnurain, but Bradley Rothwell pulled one
back for New Zealand two minutes into the third quarter.
The Malaysians continued to attack in waves and eventually went on to
post a 5-3 victory with more goals from Danis Khairil (44 th ), Azimuddin
Shakir Kamaruddin (47 th ) and Muhammad Danish Irfan Muhammad Saufi
(60 th ). Azimuddin, a member of senior national squad, was named the Man
of the Match.
New Zealand scored two more goals through Jordan Whittleston (56 th ) and
Dean Clarkson (60 th ).