Malaysia defeats Spain by 3-2 in their last match of the European tour
The Malaysian national hockey squad ended their European tour in a spectacular style as they defeated the Spanish national side by 3-2 in their final match of the Spanish Campaign, which was played at the Terrassa Hockey Stadium in Barcelona on Thursday,
July 7.
In their European tour, the Malaysian national hockey side has won five matches out of their total nine, while one match ended in a draw and in three matches they had to face defeat. They started their European tour against the national side of Netherlands,
which mallet them by 9-1 and 5-1 in two practice matches. However, the Malaysians made a strong comeback winning four consecutive matches, three against top level Spanish clubs, Real Polo Club by 4-2, Athletic Terrassa Club by 6-2, and Egara Hockey Club by
2-0 and then defeated Spanish Under-21 side by 3-0.
Their next match against the Under-21 side was drawn by 1-1, while they were defeated by the Spanish national side by 2-0 before their last victory against the same side.
“To a certain degree, we achieved what we wanted to in Europe as there was improvement in some of the departments, especially the set-pieces,” Tai Beng Hai, the chief coach of the Malaysian national hockey side stated about their achievement of their targets
in the European tour.
“Pointers picked up from the earlier match were used to stop Spain’s transfer from right to left as they used long balls to beat us. My midfielders kept a tight control of the centre and intercepted Spain’s build out of defense and this gave the forwards
counter-attack chances and we scored twice off such occasions,” Beng Hai further stated about their play in the match.
The match was quite entertaining as Spain took an early lead in the fourth minute, when Roc Oliva scored on a penalty-corner, but the Malaysians made the equaliser just eight minutes after, when Marhan Abdul Jalil scored on a drag flick rebound in the 12th minute.
No further goal was scored in the remaining part of the first half and both of the teams went to interval at 1-1.
In the second half, the Malaysians score the second goal in the 42nd minute, when Tengku Ahmad Tajudin converted a penalty-corner into a goal, but Roc Oliva again scored the equaliser in the 49th minute. However, the Malaysians continued
their efforts that paid them in the 54th minute, when Izwan Firdaus scored the decider and the match concluded at 3-2.
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