MJWC: Malaysia Edge Egypt 2-1 To Qualify For 9th-10th Play-off
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| Malaysia |
July 8, 2005 
Bernama
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R. Lakshimi Devi
ROTTERDAM, July 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia assured themselves of a play-off for a 9th to 10th classification match when they edged Egypt 2-1 in a 9th to 12th placing play-off in the 8th Junior Hockey World Cup here Friday.
However, Malaysia had to wait until the second half of the match before finally opening accounts though Kevinder Singh, who connected a free hit from Zulkiffli Mohamad Rejab in the 36th minute.
Egypt pressed for an equaliser but Malaysia fought hard to keep their slim lead.
A rough tackle outside the Malaysian 25-yard line saw Zulkiffli being sent to the sin bin.
Playing one man down, Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh begin shifting his players' positions to press forward.
The effort brought in the second goal when Ismail Abu pushed the ball home from the penalty stroke point that beat Egypt's keeper Shehata Farahat in the 46th minute.
The match was halted for a few minutes after Malaysia scored their second goal as an angered Shehata threw down his stick and began shouting at his defenders.
He, however, picked up his stick again after being consoled by his team members and officials.
Refusing to be beaten by Malaysia, Egypt picked up their attacking tempo and rallied attacks on Malaysia.
Their efforts were rewarded with a penalty stroke four minutes later but Malaysian keeper Kairul Nizam Ibrahim cleared it with ease.
But with one more minute to go, desperate Egypt finally found their solitary goal, when Hanafy Mahmoud dribbled past three defenders before slamming home from the top of the "D".
Malaysia had five penalty corners throughout the match but missed all because the field was waterlogged and Zulkiffli could not lift the ball off the ground.
"We had open chances to score in the first half but missed them but we took the lead in the second half.
"The penalty corners were not working today because the field was wet and heavy and Zul (Zulkiffli) could not lift the ball. He said the ball got stuck to the ground," said Sarjit.
Sarjit, however, was unhappy with his forwards' performance in the match Friday.
"We could have hammered them (Egypt) 6-0 if only the forwards knew how to make use of the opportunities that came by them. Luckily, we had a 2-0 lead because they had managed to score at the very last minute," he said.
Malaysia: Kairul Nizam Ibrahim, Mohamad Shahrun Nabil, Megat Azrafiq Megat Termizi, Mohamad Sallehin Abdul Ghani, Zulkiffli Mohamad Rejab, Mohamad Sufian Mohamad, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil, Mohamed Shukri Abdul Mutalib, Ismail Abu, Kevinder Singh and S. Selvaraju.
Egypt: Shehata Farahat, Elbadry Mahmoud, Abdul Kerim Ahmed, Abdul El Hamid, El-Fadl Ashraf, Hanfy Mahmoud, Abdul Al Aziz, El Sayed Mohamed, Hussein Mohamed, Hussein Tamer and Fouda Ahmed.
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