KUALA LUMPUR – Belgium are determined to capitalise on Malaysia’s weak defence when they face off in the ninth to 12th-place classification match at the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup on Wednesday.
Head coach Jeroen Baart expressed his amazement at the mentality of the Red Lions for their dominating performance after their setback against Pakistan in their final Group D match a couple of days ago.
His response came after his team demolished Canada 12-0 in their ninth to 16th-place classification match today, setting the highest scoring record in the ongoing tournament.
“It was a difficult two days after our last group match in which we lost our spot for progressing to the quarter-finals.
“Yesterday morning, we relaxed our minds by visiting several places in Kuala Lumpur and enjoying some tourist sites such as Batu Caves and Pasar Seni. We also indulged in some delicious local food.
“We only started our training for our match against Canada last evening, and we trained with hunger and desire, ultimately leading us to a convincing result.
“Our next match against Malaysia is not going to be easy, as they are a very different side compared to what they were two years ago, looking more structured.
“But we have noticed that they have conceded quite many (20) penalty corners, and their defence has been shaky. We are going to make sure that we capitalise on that.
“We are hoping for a quality match against Malaysia and to see a high number of fans coming to the stadium to watch the match, cheering for both sides,” said Baart in today’s post-match conference.
Belgium’s twelve goals were scored by Max Luyten (2nd, 4th, 10th, 56th), Lucas Balthazar (20th, 38th, 58th), Hugo Labouchere (34th, 35th, 42nd, and 52nd), and Thomas Crols (53rd).
Meanwhile, the Young Tigers did just enough to beat Egypt 4-1 in their ninth to sixteenth-place classification.
However, there was no fire in head coach Amin Rahim’s team as they gave away too many balls to Egypt and were lucky to get away unscathed.
Amin said that the Young Tigers will do whatever it takes to protect their territory from being conquered by the Red Lions in their next match.
“My boys came with a mission to topple the psychological threat that our opponents were giving before the match, and I’m happy that my boys managed to overcome them in a match of high-intensity hockey.
“But I’m still not entirely impressed with the performance of my boys as we managed to get 16 penalty corners in this match, and we only executed two.
“We need to make sure that we clean up on our flaws so that we don’t struggle in our next match against the world number five side,” said Amin.
The Malaysian goals were scored by Harris Iskandar Osman (8th), Faris Harizan (16th), Danish Aiman Khairil (44th), Che Nur Aqilrullah (50th).
Basel Abdel Monem netted for Egypt in the 59th minute.
Malaysia and Belgium last met in the 2021 edition in a Group A match, which ended in a 1-1 draw. – December 11, 2023