Hockey - no yesterday ' s solutions to tomorrow ' s problems

By a hockey observer.

Harban Singh


I watched the hockey World Cup hockey qualifier game between New Zealand and Malaysia held in New Zealand live over TV on Sunday, Nov 15 and I thought we played our hearts out and it was definitely one of our better games of late.

Congratulations to coach Tai Beng Hai and his boys. However, it was not good enough for Malaysia as we lost to the most consistently unbeaten side 2-1 . namely New Zealand .

What intrigues me is the inefficiency of Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) in hiring a foreign coach. Tai Beng Hai was only supposed to be an interim coach. Why couldn ' t we hire a foreign coach in time? It could have made all the difference!

Even if his salary demands were high, had we qualified, it would have brought gross returns to our economy, branding and more tourists inflows. In these days of ' outsourcing ' , did not the Malaysian Hockey Federation think of hiring a ' headhunter ' to help in this specialised job of recruiting a world class hockey coach?

Recruitment headhunters are efficient and reliable. The opportunity is lost now and this when we have to prepare for the Olympics and the World Cup in advance. We also need the Malaysian Hockey Federation officials to have strategic intent and common sense on the need to develop hockey to a new level.

There must be political will and a paradigm shift. We cannot apply yesterday ' s solutions to tomorrow ' s problems. We need to look ahead. I have been following some of the national-age group competitions involving the youths and I must say the standards are pathetic.

MHF should address this problem in the bud and make it a national issue so that there is political will for the schools to have the incentives to develop this world-ranking sports for Malaysia .

The decline of our hockey ' s standards should be brought to Parliament where it can receive the attention it deserves. This happened in India and Pakistan .

I am afraid if MHF continues to operates the way it has been done, we will soon follow the negative path of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). FIH ' s international hockey rankings as of Sept 1, places Malaysia at 16th place.

How come we are behind nations like Canada , China , South Africa and Belgium when our infrastructure in terms of stadium facilities and support by the government are either the same or ahead of them?

The problem lies in developmental measures and the mechanisms. This infrastructural weaknesses have not been tackled for decades. We are not producing enough good players continuously which results in our national team lacking consistency as the same players know that even if they don ' t train hard, they will still don national colors.

We need competitiveness. Wake up, MHF! By the next World Cup, I am certain we will be relegated further behind the US , France and Ireland if no serious action is taken now. Forget about qualifying and look at the developmental measures immediately.

It is at the schools where the future Sarjit Singhs, Poon Fook Lokes, Khairuddin Zainals and Mahendrans lie. Spot them young, nurture them and ensure the processes are in place in the system to produce quality players.

Collaborate in partnership with the Education Ministry and emulate the ' best management hockey practices ' of Korea and Japan . From the statistics of missing the last two World Cup toournaments and several Olympics, it appears MHF is bankrupt of ideas and needs far-reaching focus and ambition.

Even the respective state hockey associations have followed into and continued in this rut where even the state league championships are non-existent in certain states. Let ' s face reality and check the rot. Please don ' t let Malaysians give up on hockey as they totally have on soccer.

ENDORSEMENT FOR BENG HAI

National Sports Council Director General Dato Zolkples Embong has in two media articles endorsed Tai Beng Hai to continue to carry on as coach of the national team.

So really coming from a head honcho like Zolkples must surely count as something for Beng Hai. We have not spoke about Beng Hai in this past week as we allow him to grieve his fathers demise with his family.

However these statements clear show that some developments are taking place. But factually there is something wrong as Stephen van Huizen was the coach of the team when they qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics via Qualifiers in Japan in 1999.

The following is what appeared in Harian Metro on Thursday:

Dalam pada itu, Zolkples tetap berpuas hati dengan prestasi Tai Beng Hai yang hampir memastikan skuad negara mara ke Piala Dunia 2010 apabila layak ke final kelayakan tapi tewas 2-1 kepada tuan rumah, New Zealand, minggu lalu.

Menurutnya, setakat ini, pencapaian Beng Hai adalah yang terbaik di kalangan jurulatih tempatan yang pernah membimbing pasukan kebangsaan dan berharap pemain sedia ada dikekalkan kerana yakin potensi gabungan muka lama dan baru dalam skuad itu.

While the following is what the NSC DG said on Friday in Utusan Malaysia:

"Kami gembira dengan Beng Hai dan menganggapnya jurulatih tempatan terbaik pernah kita ada berdasarkan pencapaian bersama skuad muda negara ini.

"Namun MSN mengambil sikap terbuka dengan memberi PHM ruang untuk membuat pilihan. Terserahlah kepada mereka untuk menentukannya sama ada untuk menggantikannya dengan jurulatih asing," katanya, kelmarin.

HAYWARD THE NEW ACE IN THE PACK

One look at Andrew Hayward and you will be forgiven if you were to think that he is just an ordinary hockey player.

He jokes with his teammates, has an unassuming character and is charming especially to his lady fans.

But Andrew is a lethal weapon, especially when he lines up on the top of the semi circle.

And Malaysians who were glued to their television sets, watching the live telecast of the decisive match between Malaysia and New Zealand for the sole berth to the 2010 World Cup will not forget him easily.

For the 24 years old Auckland based player destroyed Malaysian aspirations of playing in the World Cup with two clinical strikes off penalty corners in the 57th and 60th minutes.

It took him just three minutes to douse the Malaysian fire that was burning for much of the match.

“We knew that the Malaysian first runner (Baljit) was good as he denied us in the preliminary round match,” said Andrew.

“So after Shaw had not had much success with the first four penalty corners, my task was to keep the ball low and put it past the keepers left. And it worked as I scored two.”

For his efforts, Andrew was named as the top scorer of the tournament with seven goals, piping his teammates Simon Child and Nicholas Wilson.

Andrew made his debut against Holland in January 2007 and has scored 13 international goals thus far, the two against Malaysia being the most memorable.

“Shaw is the first choice drag flicker for us but I aim to keep him on his toes,” said Andrew.

KUMAR WILLING TO TRADE AWARD

It was his seventh international award for best goalkeeping. But S. Kumar would trade all of them for a place in the World Cup in New Delhi next year.

Kumar failed to stop New Zealand from scoring twice in the final, and that put paid to the hopes of the Malaysian team to qualify on merit for the World Cup for only the second time since 1982.

Malaysia hosted the World Cup in 2002 and qualified to play in the 1998 edition. Hence this failure means that Malaysia has to wait until the 2014 World Cup, and Kumar who is 31 will probably not last that long.

That is why he was hugely disappointed with the failure at Invercargill, especially since he has failed in four qualifiers in a row.

Kumar was in the team for the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers in Madrid, the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers in China and the 2008 Olympic Qualifiers in Japan, and he was hoping that it would be third time lucky, but the Black Sticks dealt him a blow.

“It was really disappointing especially since we were only 13 minutes away from a place in the World Cup,” said the Tampin born custodian.

“We wasted this opportunity as this was probably our best chance to make it to the World Cup. It will only get tougher after this.”

Kumar however has no intention of retiring from playing hockey as he harbors hopes of playing at the 2012 London Olympics.

And in order to do that Malaysia has to either win gold at the 2010 Asian Games or take the tougher route through the qualifiers.

“My aim is to play in the Olympics as I missed two Olympics so far due to our failure to make it through the qualifiers,” said Kumar.

“So we need to start preparing now for the Asian Games as it will be tough with the likes of Pakistan, India and South Korea.

SO NEAR YET SO FAR

Tears flowed freely after the Malaysia lost out on a place in the 2010 New Delhi World Cup.

Among those who had tears in his eyes was team manager George Koshy, and players S. Kumar, Mohd Madzli Ikmar, Mohd Shukri Mutalib and Jiwa Mohan, mainstays of the team over the years.

Malaysia has only themselves to blame for missing out on the World Cup as they had only 13 minutes to hold out after taking the lead in the 18th minute through Muhd Razie Abdul Rahim.

But the defence cracked, as the youngsters clearly did not have to ability to handle the pressure cooker situation, especially when New Zealand opted to turn the screws by attacking on Malaysia’s left.

After keeping out the Black Sticks world-class penalty corner ace Hayden Shaw for the first four penalty corners awarded, Malaysia fell to two strikes of Andrew Hayward, heir apparent to Shaw.

“We were unlucky that New Zealand upped the tempo in the closing stages of the match and we fumbled when in possession,” said coach Tai Beng Hai.

“I give credit to my players for making a game out of this especially since many had wrote us off initially.

“Of course it is a sad day for Malaysian hockey but I hope good comes out of this failure as we have along way to go to match the top teams.

“What is important is we play in quality tournaments and expose the younger players.”

Malaysia were awarded three penalty corners before New Zealand struck the killer blows and it was surprising that Malaysia did not plan for a secret variation given that it was a crucial stage of the match.

And keeping the experienced Madzli on the bench until the 69th minute also did not help the Malaysian cause, especially when Malaysia should have closed that match by packing the defence.

We were tactically outclassed and outfoxed by Shane McLeod, period.

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Malaysia failed to make the 2010 New Delhi World Cup after losing 2-1 to New Zealand at Invercargill. Read about it in The Malay Mail tomorrow, with exclusive pictures and the heartbreak of the Malaysian team.

MALAYSIA IN FINAL

New Zealand is the favourites to win the sole berth available for the 2010 Hockey World Cup from the qualifiers from Invercargill but there is much more at stake for those who love sports in New Zealand.

For in half an hour’s time the New Zealand All Whites (football team) takes on Bahrain in the second leg of the World Cup Qualifiers in Wellington.

So within the next 24 hours New Zealand could have two teams in the World Cup, both hockey and football, or ironically suffer the ignominy of seeing both teams miss out on the World Cup, which will make it a black Sunday for the Kiwis.

While the All Whites are underdogs against Bahrain to qualify for the 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup, the Black Sticks are odds on favourites to win the berth for the New Delhi Hockey World Cup.

Standing in their way is resilient Malaysia, who upset 13th ranked China for a place in the final, which will get underway at 3.00pm local time (10.00am Malaysian Time).

For the record, Malaysia and New Zealand have met a total of 51 times over the years with New Zealand ahead in the matches won, with 27 while Malaysia has won 12 matches with another 12 matches ending in draws. While New Zealand has scored a total of 105 times against Malaysia, they have conceded 71 goals.

Those are statistics that divide the two teams, but the final will be a different proposition altogether

For once the sun broke through the clouds at Invercargill when Malaysia took on China, and the end result was fantastic for the Malaysians as they won 3-0 and booked a place in the final.

Kelvinder Singh, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Nabil Fitri Mohd Nor scored the goals as the Malaysians upset the formbook, shrugging of a difficult week, with inconsistency as well as a leaky defence to outclass the Chinese.

Coach Tai Beng Hai made a sensible decision to make changes to the defence, opting to leave out skipper Mohd Madzli Ikmar after the New Zealand match and bringing Mohd Razie Abd Rahim into the heart of defence to partner the likes of Jiwa Mohan, Mohd Amin Rahim and Baljit Singh.

In midfield, Mohd Shukri Mutalib, Jiwa Mohan and Mohd Shahrun Nbil have been doing well, keeping the engine room running with their hrd work and ingenuity by spraying passes behind the opponents defence.

The inclusion of S. Selvarajoo to partner Azlan Misron and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin in attack is akin to a breath of fresh air as he has provided decisiveness with his penetrating runs.

Faisal Saari and Nabil Fiqri when brought into the fray are able to blend into the strikeforce without disruptions while Kelvinder Singh, rested for much of the tournament, has this uncanny knack of popping up at the right place at the right time.

The journalists in the media centre were impressed by what they saw in Kelvinder, for he scored the first and created the second goal and asked Beng Hai as to why was he not in the pitch for longer periods.

“Kelvinder has just recovered from an injury and is slow on the turn. Hence I use him in attack rather then his normal position which is in midfield,” explained Beng Hai.

On the chances of the team against New Zealand, who beat them 4-2 in the preliminary round, Beng Hai sounded optimistic for the first time.

“We were not even expected to make the final but here we are. It is a totally new ball game and whoever takes their chances will be in New Delhi next year,” said Beng Hai.

“We have nothing to lose as the home team are expected to do the double on us. But we are prepared for them as our players are confident when facing the Kiwis.”

And Beg Hai could be right as veteran journalist Pat Rowley puts it, “ It is always difficult to beat a team twice.”

The Kiwi bubble will burst, but will Malaysia be able to do the honours?