Malaysia Beat Egypt 4-1 !

IPOH: Malaysia continued their winning run in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament with a 4-1 win over Egypt at the Azlan Shah Stadium here yesterday.

It was the second win for Malaysia after a 3-2 success over Pakistan the previous day. Egypt also came into the match buoyed by a surprise 2-2 draw with India.

Malaysia dominated the first half but were only rewarded with a 27th minute field goal by forward Ismail Abu.

Two consecutive penalty corners four minutes into the second half brought Malaysia their second goal. The first attempt from Mohamed Amin Rahim, who took a flick, hit the leg of an Egyptian defender. And off the second corner, Engku Abdul Malek beat goalkeeper Mohamed Mabrouk with a direct hit.

A stroll in the park: Malaysia’s Ismail Abu (right) is blocked by Tamer El Saied of Egypt in yesterday’s match. Malaysia won 4-1.

The Egyptians had a run at the Malaysian goal for a short spell and managed to reduce the deficit in the 45th minute through Ahmed Abd El Hakim. Egypt mounted a few more attacks and the Malaysian defence kept them at bay.

The pressure on the Malaysians eased in the 64th minute when Chua Boon Huat deflected home the flick taken by Mohamed Amin from a penalty corner set-piece. Malaysia put the issue beyond doubt in the 68th minute with Boon Huat scoring a similar goal off a penalty corner.

“We made better use of the chances and were also able to change to a strategy that suited us,” said coach Tai Beng Hai.

“Egypt played a hard game and they put the pressure on us in the second half. We had a tough opening match and Egypt also had a tough one too and it slightly affected the teams’ performances.”

Pakistan suffered their second consecutive defeat, going down 2-3 against New Zealand in an earlier match. And their coach, Shahid Ali Khan, conceded that they had blown the chance to feature in the final on Sunday.

“We hope we can salvage some pride by winning the next two matches against Egypt and India to enable us to fight for at least third place,” he said.

The Kiwis took an early seventh minute lead with a field goal by Priyesh Bhana. But Pakistan hit back a minute later when Dilawar Hussain deflected into goal a rebound from a penalty corner hit taken by Mohamed Imran.

Pakistan went on to take the lead in the 23rd minute with Imran making the conversion off their third penalty corner.

The Kiwis made a change to their game plan and held the upper hand in the second half. Nicholas Haig equalised in the 44th minute. Then in a quick counter attack in the 68th minute, New Zealand earned a penalty stroke and Dean Couzins made the conversion to give his team the winner.

Malaysia: S. Kumar, Chua Boon Huat, Mohamed Amin Rahim, Azlan Misron, Mohd Shahrun Nabil, Mohamed Madzli Ikmar, c. Baljit Singh, Ismail Abu, Kelvinder Singh, Nabil Fiqri Mohamed Nor, Engku Abdul Malek.

Reserves: Khairulnizam Ibrahim, S. Selvaraju, Hafifihafiz Hanafi, Mohamed Amerullah, Baljit Singh S.

Egypt: Mohamed Mabrouk, Mohamed Hosny, Ahmad Mandour, Mohamed Abou El Yazed, Tamer El Saied, Ahmad Ezz, Walid Mostafa, Ahmed Abd El Hakim, Hosam Gobran, Mohamed El Saied, Mohamed Hassan.

Reserves: Saied El Shahat, Amr El Saied, Walid El Rashydi, Mohamed Basha, Mahmoud Magdy.