Malaysian Men's Hockey Coach Confident Players Are Up To The Task Against Germany

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysian men’s squad hockey coach, Roelant Oltmans is not ready to give up, and believes his charges would give their best in their last World Cup group D match against two-time champions, Germany at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India on Sunday. Malaysia is lying at the bottom of group D standings out of four teams with one point after playing two matches. The Malaysian Tigers squad suffered a heavy 0-7 defeat to world number four, the Netherlands in their opening encounter on Dec 1, before sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw against four-time winners, Pakistan, four days later. “There is no doubt that we are at a disadvantage considering we lost heavily to Holland. But nothing is over yet until the last game is played. “Germany is topping the group as such there is a huge challenge for the other teams in the next match. We will do our best to qualify for the second round but it is a tough call,” Roelant was quoted as saying in the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC)website; www.mhc.org.my. National forward, Faizal Saari who had played against Germany in 2013, acknowledged that European countries are tough teams to beat, but cited the determination to survive in the tournament as a great motivation for the players to chase for an upset win. “The Germans have qualified for the next round while we are fighting for our survival. I am sure my teammates like me are determined to get a positive result against them. We all know it is tough, but we need to work as a team and make sure we cover all the bases,” he said. Malaysia and Germany have met 43 times and the world number six won 32 times, seven draws while they only lost in four matches to the national side. -- BERNAMA