Malaysia twice coming from behind finally got off to a winning start in their Super 4s stage of the Hero Asia Cup 2017 campaign with a nerve wrecking 3-2 victory over Pakistan held on Wednesday at the Moulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium.
Razie Rahim (10′), Shahril Saabah (25′) and Fitri Saari (34′) found the mark for the winners while Muhammad Umar Bhutta (1′) and Muhammad Yaqoob (19′) were the Pakistan goal scorers.
However it was Pakistan who began the match aggressively as they scored in the first minute of the match through Muhammad Umar Bhutta who finished a field goal past Malaysia’s Goalkeeper Kumar Subramiam to get a 1-0 lead.
However, Malaysia woke from the slumber and scored the equaliser in the 10th minute when they won a penalty corner. It was Razie Rahim who converted the PC for Malaysia to level the score 1-1 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Pakistan continued on with aggressive hockey as they took the lead again in the 19th minute through Muhammad Yaqoob.
However, six minutes later in the 25th minute, Malaysia bounced back to equalized through Shahril Saabah.
In the third quarter Malaysia came back strongly as they made 11 circle entries into opposition territory. They persist on and it finally paid off as they converted the PC through Fitri Saari in the 34th minute.
However, Pakistan had a golden opportunity to level the score yet again in the 38th minute as they were awarded a PC. But a smart reflex save by Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar was enough to keep out the Pakistanis from scoring.
Pakistan spoiled numerous opportunities in the last quarter to level the score and even take the lead in the match, but they could not convert their chances and ended up losing the match 2-3 as Malaysian defence showed resilience to keep out their counterparts.
Malaysian national coach Stephen van Huizen expressed content with his team’s performance. “I am happy we won the three points from this match but it does not say anything about making it to the final because we have two more important matches coming up against Indian and Korea.
Pakistan skipper Muhammad Irfan, on the other hand, was disappointed his team continued to miss chances created in the circle. “After taking a very good lead in the first minute, it was disappointing we could not convert easy chances.
The Super 4s consists of India and Pakistan who topped Pool A along with Malaysia and Korea who topped Pool B respectively. Starting Wednesday, each of the teams in Super 4s with play against each other and the team that finishes top two in the Super 4s Pool Standings will make the Hero Asia Cup final on October 22 while the other two teams will battle for the bronze medal.
Next Pakistan play Korea today (Thursday) at 3 pm while Malaysia will be up against India in a crunch tie on the same day at 17.30 pm.
