Will Malaysia spring a surprise at the World Cup?

THE HAGUE: Malaysia are back in the Hockey World Cup after 12 long years. No wonder they will go into the tournament, which begins on Saturday in The Hague, Holland, as the lowest ranked team at No. 13.

Frankly, the last time Malaysia made the World Cup on merit was in 1998 (Utrecht). In 2002, their participation was due to them hosting the tournament and an extended number of teams.

Malaysia’s best ever finish in the World Cup is a fourth placing in the 1975 edition on home ground. Their next best was in 2002 – when they finished eighth.

So, don’t be surprised if Malaysia finish rock bottom in The Hague, considering they have not done well overseas.

The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), aware that the team are far from being among the elite, have only set a top-10 placing for coach K. Dharmaraj’s men.

Achieving four points in the group phase could well see them meet that target.

But is that enough? Are the team going to take the easy way out and be satisfied with having just made the cut for the World Cup?

The coaches and players answered with a resounding “No”, saying they are determined to prove their critics wrong.

To do that, they will have to play as a unit and help each other out. The national team have also a more attacking game in the last two tournaments – with the forwards firing on all cylinders.

Defensively, though, they are still not up to the mark. That could prove to be Malaysian’s Achilles’ heel as they have defending champions and world No. 1 Australia, England (world No. 4), Belgium (No. 5), India (No. 8) and Spain (No. 10) for company in Group A.

They play Australia in the opening tie and that could spell disaster – Malaysia have never beaten them in a top-level meet.

If Malaysia decide to go all gung-ho and don’t provide proper backing for the defence, then they could be in for a thrashing.

It also does not help that their second match will be against Belgium, who are being touted as potential winners here.

Skipper Azlan Misron and his men are viewed by many as being way too inexperienced in Group A.

But don’t tell that to the Malaysian team. They are optimistic that they can take at least a point from the first two matches.

This, they claim, will boost their confidence for the remaining group ties.

Dharmaraj said: “It is all about taking as many points as you can in the group phase. Each point will just take us close to our target ... or beyond it.

“The path has been laid out for us and it’s up to us to make it happen. We know that ours is the lowest ranked team and that the other sides are counting on taking full points off us.

“We won’t make it easy for them ... we have our own plans.”

Of course the plan Dharmaraj is talking about is to take it one match at a time and to get as many points on board as possible.

Dharmaraj’s men should be able to go into the matches with no pressure since all the other teams are looking at Malaysia as a “sure three-pointer”.

With all the matches being televised live here, the players must realise that they will come under scrutiny back home as well.

So, all anyone can ask of them is that they do their best and play to their full potential. Hopefully, they will surprise us all.