KUALA LUMPUR – The national junior hockey team’s performance at the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup earlier only showcased 50% of their strength, according to head coach Amin Rahim.
Despite beating Chile in the opening group match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Amin expressed a desire for improvement, noting the team’s true potential.
He expects his players to work harder in converting their penalty corners and field goals to maintain their winning momentum in the upcoming matches.
“It’s a promising start for us, and it was great to see our players giving their best today to secure the all-important opening day win. They seemed enthusiastic to play, and we scored several goals and penalty corners.
“However, I want more. The boys have the capability, as we won 10 penalty corners in today’s match, but we only managed to convert three.
“With more training and hard work, I believe my players can do better with their penalty corner conversion rate.
“What we showcased today is just 50% of our game, and our best performances are yet to come. We hope to bring that out in our remaining journey in this prestigious tournament,” said Amin.
Amin also expressed confidence in overcoming challenges posed by defending champions Argentina in the next group match.
“I don’t want to sound overconfident, but I believe that the current Argentina team is not as strong as the one in the previous edition in India.
“There are several new faces in the team, and I believe we have a chance against them. We watched their opening match against Australia earlier, and they only managed to score a goal in the dying minutes of the match.
“We aim to use the next 24 hours to recover ourselves and analyse their match so that we can emerge victorious against them tomorrow,” Amin added.
In contrast, Chile’s head coach, Matias Amoroso, admitted that his team stood no chance against eighth-ranked Malaysia and emphasised the need for improvement in their next match.
“Even on paper, we knew that it would be tough for us to beat Malaysia, but I told my boys not to give up and to give their 100% in the match.
“They have the home advantage and secured the all-important three points. There’s no use in complaining. It’s time for us to wake up and do better in our next match,” said Amoroso.
Malaysia dominated Chile with a 7-1 victory in their opening Group A game in front of 6,000 home fans at the National Hockey Stadium.
The seven goals for Malaysia were scored by Harris Osman (13th), Muhammad Danish Aiman (23rd), Jeffrynus Andywalfian (36th), Misron Azmilmuizzuddin (39th), Shamsul Shamir (41st), and Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi (47th, 55th).
Wolansky Sebastián scored Chile’s only goal through a penalty corner in the 34th minute.
The opening ceremony, marked by simplicity and multiculturalism, included performances such as a Tamil dance, Bhangra, Chinese, and Malay, as well as Sabah and Sarawak cultural performances.
The grandstand of the stadium saw the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, cheering for the men in yellow. – December 6, 2023