MALAYSIA stunned the gallery on Thursday with a superb display against Pakistan but none of the coaches or officials were the least bit surprised as they had always known that this young team are capable of better.

The players were super fit and their skills more superior to that of Pakistan, who are renowned for their superb ball control and dribbling skill.

But on Thursday, one could be forgiven for mistaking Malaysia for Pakistan. The hosts did everything right except score.

The highly entertaining match ended 3-2 in Pakistan's favour, much to the disappointment of very many fans.

"This is what my team are capable of, and I am proud of them even in defeat.
"I only need to sharpen their scoring skills and we will become a winning outfit," said national coach Sarjit Singh.

However, the team were a huge disappointment in the recent Japan Olympic Qualifier.

"In Japan, we played two good matches, one was against Germany and the other when we beat Poland for the bronze medal.

"In the other matches, we had our chances to win but struggled to score even when presented with an open goal," added Sarjit.

And that's the reason why the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will be hiring a foreign coach to sharpen the scoring skill of the Malaysian forwards, and another to help the defenders.

Sarjit, who will still be the chief coach, agrees there is an urgent need for foreign expertise in these two departments.

"We are preparing this team for next year's Asia Cup (which is also a qualifier for the 2010 Delhi World Cup), and the sooner we get foreign expertise the better," said Sarjit.

"The present batch of strikers are among the best I have seen for years, and the plan is to qualify for the World Cup via the Asia Cup as qualifiers are becoming increasingly difficult to win nowdays."