IPOH, The national men’s hockey team have been advised to be more clinical in their finishing when they play top-ranked New Zealand in the 30th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (SASC) here tomorrow.
The Speedy Tigers, the defending champions and ranked world number 13, rebounded from a 4-5 loss to Pakistan in the opening match on Saturday to tame Canada 6-2 last night. Malaysia edged New Zealand 3-2 in a friendly on Wednesday (May 1).
Six players – Mohammad Fitri Saari (13th minute), Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (14), Azimuddin Syakir Kamaruddin (19), Nik Muhammad Aiman Nik Rozemi (31), Syed Syafiq Syed Cholan (48) and Faizal Saari (49) – scored against Canada.
However, head coach Sarjit Singh is not impressed by the scoreline, saying his charges missed many opportunities and made mistakes which caused them to concede two goals.
Sarjit hopes they will learn from their mistakes and up the ante against the world number 10 and Olympics-bound Black Sticks, who will be seeking redemption for their 1-4 defeat to Japan
yesterday.
‘New Zealand is a very good and complete side. When they put pressure on you, it will be very difficult. But it is good for our players to play this kind of matches because it is a learning process. Hopefully, we will get better and better (for the 2026 Asian Games),’ he told reporters here.
Sarjit said he did not have much time to prepare the new-look team since taking charge of the Speedy Tigers in March as they have to play in back-to-back tournaments.
After the SASC, the Speedy Tigers will be heading to the Nations Cup in Poland from May 31 to June 9 and the Asian Champions Trophy in China from Sept 8-17.
Meanwhile, New Zealand head coach Greg Nicol hopes his charges will quickly adapt to the tropical heat and be creative in their play after scoring only once from 37 circle (penalty box) entries against Japan.
‘We got to go back to the drawing board and try to beat Malaysia in front of the home crowd. All we want is a competitive tournament.
‘Against Japan, we managed to find the space bu
t couldn’t do things right in the final third. That’s something we need to improve on,’ he said, adding that the Kiwis are using the invitational tournament to prepare for the summer heat of the Olympics, scheduled for July 23 to Aug 11.
Pakistan are leading the table standings on goal advantage despite sharing six points with Japan after two matches, followed by Malaysia and New Zealand with three points each. South Korea and Canada remain at the bottom without any points.
The top two teams after the round-robin play will challenge for the title, while the third- and fourth-placed teams will play in the bronze medal playoff.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency