The 5-3 victory recorded by the Hockey Squad in the National Men’s Hall when it came down to meet Thailand in the fourth act of the Hockey In The Hall, the 2023 SEA Games, Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took place at Dinosaur Park Hall, Chroy Changvar, today, thus took them to the final stage despite still having one match remaining.
In contrast to the National Women’s Hall Hockey Squad, they need at least a draw in the final match of the Round Robin Round, meeting Indonesia to qualify for the final despite defeating the hosts, Cambodia 4-0 in the fourth act, today.
After four games, the National Men’s Team is currently at the top of the charts despite sharing 12 points with Indonesia, but the difference in netting puts Malaysia on top and the final stage will also find Malaysia with Indonesia while Thailand is third with six points overall after four games.
As for the National Women’s Team, they now share 10 points with Thailand and are top of the charts after having six goal differences while Indonesia is third with nine points. The results of the final match of the Round Robin Round will also determine between Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, which team will advance to the final.
In the men’s category match that found Malaysia with Thailand, a fierce action was featured by both the team and Thailand desperate to find victory opening the scoring first in the eighth minute through Suyaram Anuson’s field goal.
Stunned by the net Malaysia conceded three goals in the 11th minute, 12th minute and 19th minute, as a result of a stroke penalty goal conceded by Faridzul Afiq Mohd as well as Muhamad Izham Azhar’s field goal and Razali Mohd Hazemi’s penalty corner goal, for Malaysia in front in the first half.
Continuing in the second half, Muhammad Firdaus Omar, ensured the national camp continued to lead the match through the fourth goal as a result of a penalty corner shot advantage. However, Thailand were seen to continue to scramble and managed to steal two goals in a row as a result of a penalty corner shot and a field move by A-Nukoon Warawut in the 33rd and 34th minutes.
Two minutes before the actual action ended, Faridzul Afiq Mohd once again recorded the name as the scorer when he completed the advantage of a penalty corner shot that closed the match with a 5-3 victory over the national team.
The head coach of the National Men’s Hockey Squad, Mohd Hanip Che Halim praised his resurgent line-up of players who showed the game better than yesterday’s match as well as being able to take advantage of every opportunity presented.
“The pattern of the game featured today was neater than yesterday, however, in the last quarter, the team was a bit complacent in terms of defending and Thailand took those chances. Each of our “fouls” should have been in position quickly but a bit of obscurity caused us to give up two goals.
“No matches will take place tomorrow and we will use the time period to do recovery sessions and activities in the sports village as the weather here is quite hot and we are still in the mood of the match.
“In the final match of the Round Robin Round, the preparation of the match will still be a concern so that the preparations made to meet Indonesia will have a positive impact in the final as well as we will meet Indonesia again in the final, Sunday.
“What’s most important in the last match is that we want to avoid any unwanted injuries because it definitely has an impact on the finals,” he said.
The final act of the Round Robin Round, Saturday – 6 May, will find the National Men’s and Women’s Team with Indonesia where the Men’s Team will go down in action first at 12:45 pm (Malaysian time) and followed by the Women’s Team at 2:00 pm (Malaysian time).
