Malaysia’s Young Tigers taunted high-riding and former champions
Australia with an amazing performance that even surprised their home
fans following a 1-1 draw in the 13 th Sultan of Johor Cup at the Johor
Hockey Stadium in Taman Daya today.
Coach Nor Saiful Zaini, who was appointed juniors team coach six months
ago, paraded nine new faces who were drafted into the squad after
successful tours of Australia, India and China recently.
Following the 7-2 thumping by the Green Shirts Pakistanis in their opening
match last Saturday, the Malaysians were a transformed side against the
Burras. There was growing fear the young tigers might suffer a bigger
defeat against the Australians as their confidence had eroded.
This witty presumption quickly vanished into thin air.
Forward Azimuddin Kamarudin converted a penalty corner in the 13 th
minute much to the joy of the big number of fans. The early strike ruffled
the Australians strategy against a side that finished in sixth and last
position at the 2024 edition.
Coach Jay Stacy’s Burras certainly did not expect what was coming their
way. The host nation was instead firing on all cylinders. Ian Grobbelaar,
who was presented with the Man of the Match award against the Kiwis a
day earlier, equalized 1-1 through a penalty corner conversion in the 47 th
minute.
Both Malaysian goalkeepers – Muaz Shabri and Haziq Hairul were in their
best form. The duo denied the attacking Australian machinery with brave
acts. Haziq was eventually presented with the Man of the Match award,
An elated coach Nor Saiful, said: “We made a slight change. The open
concept play is still open, but we found that we didn’t want to be too open.
Yesterday, we played openly across the entire field. Today, we only played
up to 75 meters. We want to push further forward.”
“However, the players learned one thing and that is how to play against
Australia. Secondly, perhaps we missed out, we could have actually won
today. We had penalty corner chances, there were open goals, there were
counter-attacks where we made wrong passes. At a minimum, they learned
today and are ready for the next game, I think,” added Saiful.
