THE four recent friendlies - two each against Japan and Great Britain at National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil - were educational for Malaysia.
For the record, Japan beat Malaysia 3-0 and 1-0 while Great Britain won 3-1 and 1-0 in the friendlies.
We now know where we stand after playing against two teams who are preparing for the Tokyo Olympics scheduled from July 23 to August 8. The players are also aware they have to step up and work harder from now on. It's a challenge to them.
The matches were the starting point of our preparations and team building since Arul Selvaraj took over from Dutchman Roelant Oltmans as coach last August. With the Olympics in mind, Japan and Great Britain have been training hard despite the Covid-19 pandemic. They want to be well-prepared in their challenge for honours in Tokyo.
The Malaysians sadly have not qualified for the Tokyo Games. The team was ill-prepared for these international matches, compounded by the fact that they were played during the fasting month.
Our training programmes have been hampered by the pandemic, the MCO and that we were forced to train online initially for some time. Prior to the friendlies, our players were also involved in the Malaysia Hockey League which ended on April 3. Thus the team did not have much time to prepare as a unit. Moreover, it must be stated the last time we played an international match was way back in November 2019.
This was very evident in the first match against Japan on April 17 where we lost 3-0. Our players worked hard to stay in the game but lagged in the physical and speed aspects necessary for an international match. We have to work harder to improve on these shortcomings as we prepare for future tournaments.
Malaysia are preparing for three assignments later in the year. They are the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh in June, the Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka, Bangladesh in October and the Asia Cup in scheduled for November at a venue yet to be decided. The Asia Cup is crucial as it is part of the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
Our players will also be working hard to improve on various aspects of the game. Greater emphasis will be placed on the attacking aspect, involving things like scoring more field goals and making penalty corners count. We only managed to score once via a penalty corner in the recent friendly matches from the 10 that were received and did not score a single field goal. Coach Arul and the players will also be working on improving the penalty corner conversions.
Some fans were disappointed we did not register a single win and that only a goal was scored. They had the right to be so. However, they should also understand the issues we faced before those matches. We were just as disappointed but the players gave it their all.
Back to the friendlies against Japan and Great Britain. The players made improvements in their first match against Great Britain on April 19 in terms of reducing errors and field positioning compared to the earlier encounter against Japan. Malaysia also had more control of the match which they lost 3-1 and earned four penalty corners from which they converted one.
The Malaysians played the second match against Japan on April 20. Despite improvement in their individual performances, they lost 1-0. They played with more fire, belief and better understood the positional play.
We played our second match against Great Britain on April 22 and lost 1-0. But the players attitude cannot be faulted and rightly they were deeply disappointed in not getting a better result. Overall, it was a huge performance by the players as the odds were against them.
Consider these factors:
• Malaysia last played in November 2019
• Last trained on December 19, 2020
• Bubble online training
• Post Malaysia Hockey League on April 3
• First training sessions on April 15
• Second training sessions on April 16
• Fasting
• Against teams 80-90 per cent geared for the Tokyo Olympics
All said and done, it was great for Malaysia to have had the opportunity to play the four matches. It will certainly help the team improve.
Finally, a big thank you to Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and National Sports Council director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail for their massive efforts in making it possible for us to play the friendly matches. We have to say the same to the Health Ministry and National Security Council as well.
Also thanks to National Sports Institute, MHC office, Stadium Board, Pullman Hotel, umpires and everyone who contributed in some way to make it a success.
Selamat berpuasa to all Muslims. Stay safe, everyone. - The Vibes. May 1, 2021
