News

14-05 Malaysia still in it

2010-05-14 21:05:00

MALAYSIA stayed just afloat in their bid to play in the final of the Azlan Shah Cup when they edged China 2-1 in a heavy drizzle in Ipoh yesterday.
 

In an earlier match, South Korea fought a hard battle to hold world champions Australia to a 2-2 draw which opened up the tournament. India are an almost sure bet to claim one ticket to the final as they have 10 points and a relatively easy match against Egypt tomorrow to collect full points. That leaves Malaysia, Australia, South Korea and Pakistan to claim the second spot. Malaysia have 11 points and a goal difference of eight while Australia play China.

Korea and Pakistan will be locked in battle tomorrow with goals playing a crucial role in deciding their fate.

Yesterday, the national players needed to score as many goals as possible, but for the first 10 minutes, they were at the receiving end as China won four penalty corners, with one even hitting the bar. Malaysia came out of their shell after that but it was a tale of misses as the forwards were blunt in their attempts, and the score was still 0-0 after 20 minutes. The second half saw a recharged Malaysia who went looking for an early goal and found it off their fourth penalty corner in the 37th minute. This time, Amin Rahim took matters into his own hands and a powerful low flick beat goalkeeper Su Rifeng.

The heavy pitch slowed down the match as Malaysia looked like they were reeling from their punishing 5-2 win over India the previous day. And the unthinkable happened in the 56th minute when Liu Yixian flicked in the equaliser off a penalty corner.

However, it failed to douse the Malaysian fire, and with eight minutes remaining, Madzli Ikmar's hit from the half-line found Azlan Misron who scored with a reverse stick attempt, and kept the final dream alive.

Source NST