Malaysian Tigers More Confident Following Good European Tour

SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), Aug 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian men’s hockey squad who ended their three-week European Tour on Monday, have gained more confidence and now possess a better understanding of the team’s new playing style. Captain Mohamad Sukri Abdul Mutalib said the results recorded in the first six of the nine matches proved the overall quality of the squad against the world’s biggest teams. “When we played the first six games well, we gained a certain level of confidence that made us feel like we could compete against them (world giants). It was a good and much-needed motivation for the team. “Secondly, we managed to better understand the new game structure implemented by the coach. When the players understand the structure, we can make good decisions,” he said when met at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here, Tuesday. The 33-year-old admitted, however, there was still room for improvement, especially in the final three matches against the likes of world-number-three The Netherlands, and second-ranked Belgium, who are also 2018 World Cup champions. “The main drawback of the final three matches was that we were a little tired and made simple mistakes such as losing focus while defending. But we can fix all that once we evaluate it,” he said. The Malaysian Tigers who are ranked 12th in the world played nine games in the tour, six of which were test matches and three at the Four Nations Invitational Tournament which saw Malaysia emerge winners after defeating Spain 4-3 and Ireland 2-1 before a 3-3 draw against England. The remaining six games saw Roelant Oltman’s side win 4-2 over Germany before losing 0-1 to Spain, followed by defeats in two matches each against The Netherlands (4-6 and 2-6) and Belgium (1-5 and 0-8). -- BERNAMA