KUALA LUMPUR – National hockey head coach Sarjit Singh admits that his team needs to further improve on their set-piece skills following the Speedy Tigers’ 3-1 defeat at the hands of France in their second Nations Cup match in Gniezno, Poland last night.
Malaysia’s only goal in the match, which saw a total of 13 penalty corners awarded to both sides, came courtesy of Faizal Saari’s tap-in.
France’s goals were scored by Timothée Clément, François Goyet, and Etienne Tynevez.
Having clashed six times before the Nations Cup, the Speedy Tigers boasted a higher winning percentage of 50%, with their last victory over Les Bleus coming in the 2015 Fintro Hockey World League semi-finals.
Sarjit said that although he was impressed with his team’s overall performance against France, he was disappointed that they could not secure a point against their world number nine opponents.
He further hopes for his side to go all out against Canada with a winning mentality and clinch an important win against the world number 21 side in their final Pool B match tomorrow.
“Overall, they played well and showed a very high level of commitment. It’s a shame that we couldn’t secure at least one point from this match, and we were penalised for our minor errors.
“There’s plenty of room for my players to further improve their skills, and we need to analyse what happened with the five penalty corners that we failed to execute.
“We need to defeat Canada in the next game, and it’s not impossible for us to surpass them. All I need from my players is to have a winning mentality when we approach our last game,” said Sarjit.
Malaysia beat Canada 6-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup last month. – June 4, 2024