The National Men’s Senior Squad ended the 2022 Jakarta Indonesia Asian Cup campaign which took place at the Gelora Bung Karno Hockey Stadium as runners-up after losing 1-2 to South Korea in the final match which took place today.
However, there was a bit of joy in the Malaysian camp when the national penalty corner specialist, Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim was named as the top scorer of the tournament after scoring 13 goals overall.
In today’s match, the first quarter action started with both teams seen organizing the attack and Malaysia had two chances to lead the match but the attack arranged to score a goal did not materialize.
The national goal was also tested in the first quarter when South Korea were rewarded with a penalty corner and praise should be given to the national penalty corner defense line that managed to break the attempt.
In the second quarter, Malaysia trailed 0-1 first in the 17th minute after Jung Manjae who was not controlled on the right side of the national goal gate managed to push his teammate’s pass for the first goal.
The goal, however, did not dampen the spirit of the Malaysian Tigers to rise to tie the score in the 25th minute through a field movement, Syed Mohamad Syafiq Syed Cholan who was on the left side of the South Korean goal gate took advantage of the opportunity to change the position to 1-1.
Continuing the second half, Malaysia continued to organize the attack to put pressure on South Korea and the national squad was served with several rows of opportunities to score goals but the end was not few.
In the 52nd minute, through a counter-attack, South Korea scored their second goal through Hwang Taeil but the national squad continued to show resilience to recapture the position.
Three minutes before the end of the match, Malaysia was rewarded with a penalty corner but was saved by the South Korean goalkeeper and a minute later, Malaysia again had the opportunity to score through a field movement but Faizal Saari’s finish was slightly off target.
The resurgence that the Malaysian Tigers were trying to show to at least tie the score was unattainable when the match ended with a 2-1 win for South Korea.
