JOHOR BAHRU: The national junior hockey squad needs to improve their performance, not only for the upcoming 5th-8th classification matches but also in preparation for the Junior World Cup (JWC) in December.
National men’s junior squad head coach Muhamad Amin Rahim that his team would analyse the mistakes made, including several missed penalty corner opportunities in last night’s game.
“When we look at the last these three games, we see that we’ve created numerous chances, which is a positive sign. However, the critical issue lies in converting those opportunities into goals.
“We’ve identified our shortcomings and are consistently working to rectify them. With just three or four weeks remaining until the Junior World Cup, our primary focus is to ensure that our offensive tactics are sharper and more effective.
“We’ve been creating opportunities, but we need to capitalise on them,” he told the post-match press conference last night.
Commenting on last night’s match, Muhammad Amin expressed his satisfaction with his team’s encouraging performance, despite their narrow loss to Pakistan.
According to him, one of the critical areas for improvement is reducing the space given to the opposing team to score goals.
“We gave Pakistan too much space, and near the dressing room, I was quite assertive with the players. I urged them to apply more pressure on Pakistan, and the performance we saw in the third and fourth quarters is what we should have displayed in the first half.
“However, I must credit them for their determination. Even when we were trailing 3-0, we managed to score back with two goals. We continued pushing for another goal to at least secure a draw, but time was not on our side.
“When it comes to facing Great Britain, we had a ‘practice match’ with them before the tournament, and we noticed their game improving with each match. So, we’ve analysed our weaknesses and identified the areas we need to address promptly, while continuing to build on our strengths,” he explained.
Malaysia suffered their second defeat in the Sultan Of Johor Cup (SOJC) International Hockey competition after going down 2-3 to Pakistan in a Group B match at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium, last night.
The defeat saw Malaysia drop to the bottom of the Group B table without any points. – BERNAMA
