Malaysia’s winning-streak in Spain finally comes to an end
Malaysian men’s winning-streak finally came to an end as they were denied of their fifth consecutive victory against Spain, when the Spanish Under-21 side scored a late equaliser in the dying moments of the match and successfully managed to bring a
stop to the winning habit. The match was played at the Terrassa Hockey Stadium, in Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain.
In their previous four encounters, the Malaysian national hockey squad had defeated Real Polo Club by 4-2, Athletic Terrassa Hockey Club by 6-2, Egara Hockey Club by 2-0 and the Spanish Under-21 side by 3-0, in their previous match, but in this match
the Spanish Under-21 side showed a lot of improvement in their play and especially in their defence.
The match remained evenly balanced between the opponents the entire time as the Malaysian men had to fight barely in the tough and warm conditions. They made the solo strike in the first half, whereas their rivals levelled the score in the second half.
The first half started with evenly balanced chances for both teams, but they remained fruitless till the 21st minute and it was Malaysia which broke the ice, when Hafifi Hafiz scored the opening goal for the visitors.
The opportunity was created by Izwan Firdaus who dodged three of the Spanish defenders before passing the ball to Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin who in turn deflected the ball to Hafifi Hafiz and finally it was converted into goal with a fine final touch by
the latter. The first half concluded at 1-0 to Malaysia.
In the second half, both the contenders played beautifully throughout the 35 minutes, but the Spanish men remained lucky as they were awarded a penalty-corner in the 69th minute and Alejandro de Frutos made no mistake in converting it into
the equaliser. The match concluded at 1-1.
Meanwhile the Malaysian men will play the first of their two next games against the Spanish national side today, while the final game will be played tomorrow at the same site. It will be interesting to see if Malaysia remains undefeated in this tour.
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