Kiwis Polish Off Malaysia 4-1 To Book Ticket To The Final

IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), June 1 (Bernama) -- New Zealand booked its place in the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup after beating Malaysia 4-1 at the Azlan Shah Stadium here Thursday night. The win, New Zealand's fourth in five matches, gave the Kiwis 12 points while Argentina with nine points are second while India who have also nine points are third with an inferior goal difference. In tonight's match, Malaysia who had beaten Pakistan 3-2 yesterday, found themselves trailing 0-3 by the first half with goals from Ryan Archibald (5th min), Shea Mcaleese (16th min) and Nick Wilson (32nd min). The start of the second half raised the hope of Malaysian fans who had come in droves, when Hafifi Hafiz Hanafi's solo effort reduced the deficit to 3-1. However, Shane Neal killed off the young Malaysian sides fight back with a 62nd minute goal to walk out with a 4-1 win. In another match, India beat arch rival Pakistan 2-1 to end their campaign with 9 points from three wins and three loses, while the loss doomed Pakistan to the last spot in the table with just a single win from five outings. Earlier, London Olympics host, Britain, managed only a 1-1 draw against South Korea. The draw saw Britain drop from third to fourth place while Malaysia also dropped a spot from fifth on Wednesday to sixth on Thursday. Malaysia play Argentina Friday in their final fixture of the round robin competition while New Zealand take on South Korea and Great Britain face Pakistan. --BERNAMA