Hockey World Cup: No surprise as Dutch hammer Malaysia 4-0
ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL14 Jan 2023 07:56pm
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The Dutch dominance was evident with 64 per cent possession seeing them register 30 circle penetrations to Malaysia's 13 and cvonverted two out of four penalty corners and two of their seven shots on goal.
However, coach Arul Selvaraj's men started off with some hope of sneaking an unlikely point, after managing to hold off a barrage of Netherlands attacks in the first quarter which ended scoreless.
Any hope of a surprise against the world number 3 ranked Dutch slowly dissipated in the second quarter when in the 19th minute Thijs van Dam robbed Faiz Heli Jali of the ball inside the semi circle and slotted home past a hapless Hafizuddin Othman in the Malaysian goal.
In the 23rd minute Jip Janssen doubled the score for the Dutch from a penalty stroke, after he was fouled inside the D. Malaysia's chance to reduce the deficit came three minutes later when they were awarded their first of two penalty corners, but captain Razie Rahim's attempt was thwarted by Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak and the teams entered the half-time break with the score 2-0.
The third quarter started with Malaysia looking more adventurous but hardly had a look at the Dutch goal, with Sultan Azlan Shah Cup top scorer Silverius Shello hardly allowed room to operate, while Malaysia's second penalty corner was fumbled without any attempt registered.
The final quarter saw the Dutch double the scoreline through Teun Beins from a penalty corner in the 46th minute, which was also the first goal of his international career.
The fourth goal was arguably the goal of the tournament so far with Jorrit Croon slotting the ball into the top left corner of Hafizuddin's goal from an acute angle after connecting with a cross from Steijn van Heijningen. Croon was also named man of the match.
"We put in a really good team effort and it's really good to start the tournament with a 4-0 win. In the details we could have done a bit better, but its only the first game, so we will definitely look to improve as we progress in the tournament," said Croon.
For Malaysia, the result was a slight improvement on the 7-0 thrashing they suffered against the same opponents in the opening match of the 2019 World Cup, but can afford no more slip-ups if they aim to make the quarterfinals.
Malaysia will face Chile in their next match at the same venue on Monday, with a win required for them to stay in the running for a quarterfinals spot. In the other Pool C match today, New Zealand beat Chile 3-1.
