By ALLAN NETTO
INCONSISTENT Malaysia will have a tough task at hand as they face up to reigning Olympic
champions and world No.1 Germany, who stand in the way of their 2014 World Cup aspirations.
The home team have only themselves to blame for going into such a tight situation. All they needed was a win against England yesterday, which would have seen them top Pool B and have South Korea in sights for the quarterfinal. Instead, they fell 2-1 to England and finished third in their group, with Pakistan overtaking them after a thumping 6-2 win over South Africa.
Malaysia could have comfortably sealed all three points against Pakistan in their opening match, but squandered a 3-0 and 4-1 lead to their Asian rivals and walked away with only one point after being held to a 4-4 draw.
They then produced a top class performance against South Africa, thumping them 6-4 only to fall to their first defeat to England yesterday.
Germany are the clear favourites to come away as champions of the World League Semifinals, but they have also endured a tough patch in the Pool stages.
The world No.1 side struggled in their opening match against Argentina as they only managed to take away a draw and in their match against South Korea, the Olympic champions were off to sluggish start before they managed to hit their stride and thump their opponent 5-0.
Last night’s match up against Japan was not one of their best performance, but they still managed to come away with a 3-1 victory which saw them finish second in Pool A behind table toppers Argentina on goal difference.
Malaysia will have to be at their very best if they look to edge out the Germans and progress into the semifinal tomorrow, but Paul Revington is confident that his players will live up to the task in hand.
“I think we had the possibility of playing Germany since the tournament started,”
“We will go out there and face them in the same manner as we faced Australia in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and hope to come away with a win.
“We have a day’s rest and we will use that to prepare correctly for the match, I am confident that we won’t have any fear and we will take them head on tomorrow,” said Revington.
The winner of the match will go on to face the winner between Pakistan and South Korea in the semifinal.
Quarterfinal (Thursday):
Argentina vs South Africa (2.45pm)
Japan vs England (5.00pm)
Pakistan vs South Korea (7.15pm)
Germany vs Malaysia (9.30pm)
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