Shahbaz expects Pakistan to do well against Malaysia

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Shahbaz Ahmed expects the Green-shirts to play well against Malaysia in their next World Cup match on Wednesday.

Pakistan lost their first match of the event against Germany. Shahbaz told ‘The News’ that Pakistan played well against Germany but the forwards’ inability to score goals hurt them. “How can you win a match in such a big event of World Cup when you miss three or four goal scoring chances? But the positive thing is that the players fought against a strong side and did not come under pressure,” he said. “We should back up the Green-shirts. They allowed the Germans to score only one goal and made several attempts to score,” the former captain said.

He said that Pakistan must win the match against Malaysia to stay alive in the event because the third match is against Holland who were even stronger than Germany. Shahbaz said that Pakistan and Malaysia were old rivals and knew each other well. “Pakistan have a slight edge as in the last four events Pakistan defeated them. But the players and the team management should not take them lightly. They are sharp, agile and become more dangerous when under pressure. They proved their mettle in the semi-final of Asian Champions Trophy when they took the match to penalty shootout,” said the PHF secretary.

Malaysia are being coached by Roelant Oltmans, who was the head coach of Pakistan only a couple of months ago. Oltmans left the team just before the Asian Champions Trophy in Oman and joined Malaysia. Pakistan played against Malaysia twice in that event, first in the league match and then in the semi-final. Both times Pakistan defeated them.