Good job: Nik Aiman Rozemi (left) celebrating his goal with teammates in the Asia Cup super four match against Japan. — AHF
PETALING JAYA: The Speedy Tigers exorcised the ghosts of the 2018 Asian Games when they hammered Japan 5-0 to check into the Asia Cup final in style.
It was at the same venue, the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, where Japan deprived Malaysia of the gold medal as they made a remarkable comeback to win through penalties.
Malaysia then were leading 5-2 but the Japanese launched a fierce fightback in the dying minutes to level the tie at 6-6. The match went to penalties and Japan won 3-1.
This time the Malaysians did not allow any room for drama as they were clinical in their finishing to storm into their second consecutive final.
Malaysia finished on top of super four with five points and will face South Korea in the final today. The Koreans drew 4-4 with India yesterday.
Malaysia did not need top scorer Razie Rahim to do all the hard work to find the goals as five different players had their names on the scoresheet.
Razie however, scored one through a penalty corner (35th minute) for his 13th goal of the tournament and picked up the Man of the Match award.
Newcomer Shello Silverius opened accounts in the 14th minute while the other field goals were scored by Nik Aiman Rozemi (29th), Mohd Shafiq Hassan (35th) and Ashran Hamsani (42nd).
With the match in the bag, Malaysia gave reserve goalkeeper Adrian Andy Albert a chance to see action and he did a decent job of saving a one of Japan’s last gasp attacks.
Coach A. Arulselvaraj was proud of the way Malaysia responded to the pressure against Japan.
“They wanted to win this match so badly and make the final. Even though they were leading 5-0, they kept on working hard and didn’t want to concede a goal. That shows their character and pride,” said Arulselvaraj.
“For me today (yesterday) is like the first leg of the final and tomorrow, the second leg. Our players need to be prepared.”
Razie was happy with the way his teammates have achieved their goal.
“We all played so well today and fulfilled our responsibility against Japan and will continue playing in the same manner in the final,” said Razie.
“We have so many players now who can score and we have shown that we will not give up and we will keep on fighting until we achieve our target.”
