We promise to beat Japan, says coach Arulselvaraj

No way out: Norsyafiq Sumantri is surrounded by Indian players in their Asia Cup super four match. — AHC

PETLING JAYA: It will be a do-or-die battle but expect the best from Malaysia.

National coach A. Arulselvaraj has promised the fans that the Malaysian Tigers will overcome Japan in the super four match in Jakarta today to clinch a place in the Asia Cup final.

The Speedy Tigers have made things complicated for themselves after a 3-3 draw with India on Sunday. They now must beat Asian Games champions Japan and also wait for the outcome of the South Korea and India clash later in the day to determine their fate.

A bigger margin of victory will put Malaysia in a favourable position to check into the final should India versus South Korea tie ends up in a draw as the finalists will be decided by goal difference.

However, Malaysia need a win against Japan first to have any chance of reaching the final. Any other result in the match would mean both teams will be only involved in the third placing playoff tomorrow.

South Korea and India are the top of the super four table with four points while Malaysia are third with two points from two matches.

“We have a game against Japan and we are going all out to win. It’s not over yet. Keep supporting us, keep believing in us, we will fight till the end,” said Arulselvaraj.

“I’m happy with the fighting spirit of the players who did not give up against India but we need to work on scoring.

“It was mixed feeling for me. If you play well you need to win. It was the same against South Korea where we played well but we didn’t win. It’s not a good thing but we need to learn from this.

“The good thing is the scoring ratio of Razie (Rahim) but there are other aspects we need to overcome before facing Japan.”

Arulselvaraj was hardly pleased with several errors by the players that allowed India to make a strong comeback although Malaysia were leading 2-0 in the first half.

“The players were down in the third quarter and there were a lot of individual errors. Nothing is wrong with their hockey but it was more to do with their head – their mindset. We need to analyse what went wrong,” he said.

The Tigers will continue with their constant psychology sessions with the National Sports Institute psychologist S. Aruna ahead of the Japan match.

Malaysia have shown they have stomach for a fightback whenever the chips are down.

The Tigers not only need to show battling qualities, this is the match they badly need to portray the winning mentality that is often preached by Arulselvaraj, en route to victory.