JOHOR BARU: National Juniors coach S. Arulselvaraj has blamed his “experienced” players for letting the team down.
Malaysia lost 2-1 to Australia and drew 1-1 with New Zealand in the Sultan of Johor Cup.
“Some of the experienced players have let us down in the first two matches. We took the lead in both matches, but lapses in defence let us down.
“We also failed to score a field goal in the two matches.”
And the first player to hold his hands up is none other than forward Mohd Shahril Saabah, who top scored for Malaysia in the tournament last year with eight goals in five matches.
This year, though, he has drawn a blank after two matches.
“I’m disappointed with my performance in the first two matches. I also failed to score a single goal in the Incheon Asian Games,” said Shahril.
“I’m definitely concerned with my performance as well as that of my team-mates. The fans are banking on me, as one of the experienced players, to deliver the goals.”
The 20-year-old Shahril certainly has experience on his side, having featured in five major tournaments this year – the Sultan of Azlan Cup in Ipoh in March, Champions Challenge I in Kuantan in April, World Cup in The Hague in June, Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July and Incheon Asian Games last month.
And he has vowed to make amends for his poor performances by doing better against Britain today.
But Shahril and his Project 2016 team-mates will face a tough task trying to break down Britain’s defence, which has yet to concede a goal in two matches – hammering Pakistan 5-0 and defeating defending champions India 2-0.
They also have a good penalty corner drag flicker in towering defender Luke Taylor. He netted a hat-trick against Pakistan by converting two penalty corners and a penalty stroke.
Malaysia played two friendlies against Britain last week in Johor Baru and lost 2-1 and 5-0.
So, can Malaysia stop Britain and get their first win?
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