KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s chances of qualifying for this year’s Paris Olympics have taken another dent as it would now take a miracle to see them through to the semi-final.
The Speedy Tigers will now need to defeat Pakistan by a big margin and hope that China loses to Great Britain in the final Pool A matches tomorrow.
Malaysia faced their second consecutive defeat in the Olympic qualifiers following a 4-1 loss to Great Britain in Oman this morning.
As usual, head coach Arul Selvaraj’s charges started the first quarter well, with Firhan Ashari threatening the English defence with his forward runs and nearly beating goalkeeper Oliver Payne on several occasions.
At the same time, goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman had to carry his team with his heroic saves due to his compatriots’ inability to close the opponents’ attacks from the midfield.
The 31-year-old, who plays for Terengganu, had to make a total of five crucial saves, with two of them coming from a penalty corner.
His fine form could not last for long as he was forced to succumb to Great Britain’s third penalty corner through a fine finish by Will Calnan in the 19th minute, finding the bottom right corner.
The Tigers, who had a total of three penalty corners in the first 25 minutes, scored an equaliser with their fourth penalty corner of the match through midfielder Muhammad Shahril Saabah in the 26th minute.
Sam Ward, who kept the Malaysian defence busy with his explosive runs, put Great Britain back in the lead for his side by scoring through a penalty corner in the 32nd minute after his teammate James Albery was fouled near the penalty box.
Paul Revington’s side added more misery to Malaysia’s hope of qualifying for the Olympics as Wallace Zachary scored the third goal for his side in the 39th minute with a fierce shot from the left corner after easily going past midfielder Marhan Jalil.
Sam Ward then sealed the victory for the Brits in the 58th minute after slotting in a pass from Wallace, scoring his 84th goal in 141 appearances for his country.
Today’s defeat marked the third time the Speedy Tigers have failed to defeat Great Britain in five years.
Malaysia were defeated 5-2 when they last met at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in London.
Malaysia currently ranks at the bottom of Pool A with zero points and a negative four-goal difference, while Pakistan sits in third place after defeating China 2-0 earlier.
Arul’s Speedy Tigers currently hold the 13th position in the world rankings with 1,881.87 points. — January 17, 2024