The Young Tigers secured a resounding 3-0 victory against China in their opening match of the 14th edition of the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
The win lifts coach Nor Saiful Zaini’s Young Tigers to third place in the table standings behind Japan, who hold the advantage of a 4-goal difference lead despite sharing three-equal points, while Pakistan tops the pool with six points.
There was end-to-end action in the first quarter as both China and the Malaysians started aggressively. However, the Young Tigers fired the first salvo in the fifth minute when Nabil Yusof converted a penalty corner that gave the host a morale-boosting start.
However, it was also a night when the Malaysians golden touch failed them. It turned out to be a disappointment in the 16th minute when they were awarded a penalty stroke. Safwan Salihe’s stroke was well saved by goalkeeper Zhang Zhiyuan.
This was the second time he had failed to score in a penalty stroke opportunity. He repeated a similar act against Pakistan in the Junior Asia Cup in Mogi, China in September.
The Chinese and Malaysians controlled the second half well, playing with high energy.
Nabil, however, injected more pain when he extended the score to 2-0 from another penalty corner execution in the 28th minute, while Aferull Syah Ahmad Azuan Syahrill scored off a through pass in the 57th minute to complete the rout.
Malaysia’s next match is against Japan on Tuesday. The Japanese had outplayed Canada 8-1. Nor Saiful said he was pleased with his team’s performance and the three points from the match.
“But I am not happy when my players missed a number of opportunities in the match. We missed three and four chances in the second and third quarters, and this is our weakness. We need to overcome this in the upcoming matches,” he said.
“Safwan missed a penalty stroke in the second quarter and he also missed a penalty stroke against Pakistan in the Junior Asia Cup last month. We certainly have to replace him with another player to take penalty strokes in future.”
