Carolan calls for more lethal finishing as Speedy Tigers seek revenge in semis

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian hockey team coach Brendan Carolan has urged his charges to be more ruthless in front of goal when they clash with Japan in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions Trophy in Punjab, India, today.

The Speedy Tigers will get an immediate opportunity to avenge their 2-1 loss to the Japanese in their final round-robin match on Monday.

Carolan was unhappy that his side failed to turn their dominance into goals despite leading through a 10th-minute field goal from Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (pic) at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium.

Japan’s Kentaro Fukuda equalised in the 24th minute and struck again in the 54th to settle the contest.

“We could not make our possession and domination count and paid the price for that,” said Carolan. “I thought we were on top of them when we were 1-0 up. We had a couple of corners again where we had good chances to kill them off but we couldn’t.

‘’We have to be more ruthless if we want to win games. This will be a big lesson for us ahead of the semi-final match.’’

Meanwhile, midfielder Shello Silverius said he and his teammates are working hard on overcoming their weaknesses as they focus on the semi-final clash with Japan. “We will go all out and fight till the end for the final spot. We’ll be better prepared after losing to Japan earlier as we’re aware of the mistakes which cost us,” he said.

Malaysia finished the round-robin phase in third place with nine points from five matches. Japan, who are second with 10 points, will be the Speedy Tigers’ opponents again in the last four.

The semi-final will be played at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali.