KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s hockey head coach, Brendon Carolan, believes Malaysia are well prepared to give Germany a strong challenge when they open their 2026 Hockey World Cup campaign at the Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre, Belgium today (Sat, Aug. 15).
Carolan said the Speedy Tigers had made encouraging progress over the past two months, and were in better shape compared with their outing at the Nations Cup in Cape Town, South Africa last June.
He said the recent series in South Africa, followed by a training block in Belgium, had provided valuable preparation ahead of the world meet.
“I think the guys are well prepared. We’ve been building towards this for the last two months. The Africa series was really good for us, and we had a good training block at Gent.
“The guys are playing some good stuff, and I think they are fully ready to give Germany a good challenge,” he said in a video clip shared by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) today.
The South African coach acknowledged the gap in world ranking between Germany and Malaysia, but believes his charges are capable of producing a competitive performance.
“Obviously, Germany are ranked number five in the world, we’re ranked 14, so there’s a bit of a ranking difference, but for us, I think we’re well prepared.
“I think we’re playing better than we were at the Nations Cup two months ago. Rankings aside, I think the guys will perform really well,” he said, adding that he wanted his players to take to the field with self-belief and pride when they make their World Cup appearance.
Malaysia are drawn in Pool B with Belgium, Germany and France, with all their preliminary-round matches to be played at the Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre.
The Speedy Tigers begin their campaign against Germany today before facing France on August 17 and Belgium on August 20.
The 2026 Hockey World Cup, jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, runs from August 15 to 30, with matches staged in Wavre and Amstelveen. – BERNAMA
