The 5-3 victory recorded by the National Men’s Indoor Hockey Squad when they met Thailand in the fourth action of the Indoor Hockey Event, SEA Games 2023, Phnom Penh, Cambodia which took place at Dinosaur Park Hall, Chroy Changvar, today, simultaneously brought them to the final stage despite still having one game left.
Unlike the National Women’s Indoor Hockey Squad, they need at least a draw in the last match of the Round Robin, meeting Indonesia to qualify for the final stage despite successfully defeating the host, Cambodia 4-0 in the fourth action, today.
After four matches, the National Men’s Team is now at the top of the table despite sharing 12 points with Indonesia, but the goal difference puts Malaysia on top and the final stage will also find Malaysia with Indonesia while Thailand is in third position with six points in total after four matches.
As for the National Women’s Team, they now share 10 points with Thailand and are also at the top of the table after having six goal differences while Indonesia is in third position with nine points. The result of the last match of the Round Robin will also determine between Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, which team will advance to the final stage.
In the Men’s match between Malaysia and Thailand, a fierce action was shown by both teams and Thailand, who were desperate to find victory, opened the scoring first in the eighth minute through Suyaram Anuson’s field goal.
Stunned by the goal, Malaysia responded with three goals in the 11th minute, 12th minute and 19th minute, as a result of a stroke penalty goal completed by Faridzul Afiq Mohd as well as Muhamad Izham Azhar’s field goal and Razali Mohd Hazemi’s penalty corner goal, to Malaysia in front in the first half.
Continuing in the second half, Muhammad Firdaus Omar ensured that the national team continued to lead the match through the fourth goal as a result of a penalty corner advantage. However, Thailand continued to push and managed to steal two goals in a row thanks to a penalty corner goal and field movement by A-Nukoon Warawut in the 33rd and 34th minutes.
Two minutes before the end of the actual action, Faridzul Afiq Mohd once again recorded his name as a scorer when he ended the penalty corner advantage which ended the match with a 5-3 victory for the national team.
The head coach of the national men’s indoor hockey squad, Mohd Hanip Che Halim praised his line of players who came back to play better than yesterday’s game and managed to take advantage of every opportunity.
“The pattern of play shown today was more organized than yesterday, however, in the last quarter, the team was a bit complacent in terms of defense and Thailand took advantage of that opportunity. Every “foul” we should have quickly been in position but a little carelessness caused us to give up two goals.
“There will be no match tomorrow and we will use the time period to do recovery sessions and activities in the sports village since the weather here is quite hot and we are still in the mood for the match.
“In the last match of the Round Robin, match preparation will still be a focus so that the preparations made to meet Indonesia will have a positive effect in the final match as well because we will meet Indonesia again in the final, on Sunday.
“What is most important in the last match is that we want to avoid any unwanted injuries because it will definitely have an impact on the final action later,” he explained.
The last action of the Round Robin, Saturday – May 6, will find the National Men’s and Women’s Team with Indonesia where the Men’s Team will go into action first at 12:45 pm (Malaysian time) followed by the Women’s Team at 2:00 pm (Malaysian time).
