Malaysia topple German wall

South Korea were held to a 1-1 draw by Pakistan. Malaysia went ahead in the 33rd minute before Christoph Bechmann found the equaliser in the 47th minute. But Kuhan slammed home the winner with just two minutes left for the final hooter. (PTI) to record a big upset.

Korea, looking for their second win after downing New Zealand 4-1, went ahead through a 16th minute penalty corner conversion by Woon Kon Yeo, but Atif Bashir found parity by guiding home a rebound off a Tariq Imran hit in the 33rd minute.

Malaysia, a steadily improving team in the past couple of, years showed all signs of having adapted the total hockey style imparted by Lissek, though the respected coach was left watching his team on Thursday.

Malaysian coach Stephen Van Huizen attributed team effort and discipline for the grand win.

“I think all the players must be complimented for the effort. We rarely see Malaysian teams displaying patience in their game. Today, we did that and the players were able to capitalise on the fast break,” he said.

The match started off with both sides settling down on their midfield play. They had two good chances to take the lead in the 7th and 20th minutes. Suhaimi and Chairil, however, were guilty of missing corners. And two more followed, with the hosts succeeding from the third.

But the Eubopean side bounced back when Malaysian defence failed to clear the ball from the top of the circle giving skipper Bechmann the opportunity to equalise.

Just when it seemed the teams would split points, Malaysia forced a penalty corner and Kuhan’s flick hit Arnold but went over him and rolled into the goal.

The Korea-Pakistan clash proved equally exciting with both playing a pacy game with plenty of goalmouth action, but Pakistan warmed up for Friday’s clash against India by managing to split points.