Malaysia Focus On Penalty Corner Ahead Of Second Match With Pakistan

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian men's hockey squad has doubled up their efforts to improve the penalty corners finishing over the past few days ahead of their second World Cup group D match against four-time winners, Pakistan at Kalinga Stadium in India, on Wednesday. National penalty corner specialist, Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim said, the players gave extra attention to the penalty corners finishing to prepare for any eventuality against Pakistan who are vying their first victory after losing 0-1 to Germany in their opening encounter, a few days ago. “Pakistan has always had good penalty corner flickers. Although there are no big names in their team, they will be a handful if they get the penalty corners. “That is why work on the defensive and offensive penalty corners are important,” Muhammad Razie was quoted as saying in the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) website;www.mhc.org.my. In this regard, Muhammad Razie believed that the national side must get an early goal in the match against Pakistan to boost the morale of players to secure the victory. “I also believe that we are capable of winning, but the effort must come from all. We cannot afford to make mistakes and give away silly goals. The message is clear. It is in our hands how far we go in the tournament,” he added. Sharing his sentiments were the national top flicker, Faizal Saari who agreed that they must improve on their scoring finish either via the field or penalty corners. “We have to win. All of us know this and we will do our best. I will try to get the goals as I am also adept at penalty corners. I do not want to see the team finish in the bottom four,” Faizal added. Malaysia who was humiliated with a 0-7 defeat to the Netherlands in their opening encounter, a few days ago, must beat Pakistan at any cost to keep their World Cup hopes alive. After the match against the Netherlands, Malaysia will wrap up their preliminary fixtures against two-time champions, Germany on Dec 9. Netherlands tops the Group D standings with a superior goal difference compared to Germany despite both teams sharing three points each after playing one match. -- BERNAMA