KUALA LUMPUR: The National Juniors were given a 7-0 goalscoring lesson by Belgium in the second friendly at the Denetage Hockey Club in Antwerp on Sunday.
It was the second defeat for the Malaysians, who are on a tour of Europe, in the three-match series. They had lost 2-3 in the first match on Saturday. The third match will be played today at the same venue.
The Belgians decided to use their full side for the first time on Sunday and the Malaysians had no answer to their fire power. The homesters scored six field goals and converted one of their four penalty corners.
Team manager Mirnawan Nawawi said they also had all their best players for the match but could not match the Belgians’ fluent game.
“We were injury free but the weather was a little humid compared to the first match. It was a good test and the players can learn a lot from this match. The pace of the game was fast.
“The Belgians are the European champions. We certainly need to raise our game level a notch if we are to match them,” added Mirnawan.
So dominant was Belgium that Malaysia only had two penalty corners. Zulhairi Hashim, however, was way off the mark. Malaysia even had a penalty stroke in the 48th minute but Haziq Shamshul failed to make it count.
“We could have scored a few goals. There were field attempts, penalty corners and even a stroke. Yet, we kept losing the ball and they made good use of their chances,” lamented Mirnawan.
“This is our worst performance so far in this tour. The forwards failed to convert the chances and the defending was sloppy. A big defeat is what you will get if you fail to do the right things.
“The team need to raise their game in the last match of the series. We need a win to salvage some pride. We leave for England next where we are will play three more matches,” he said.
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