THE national hockey team's failure to qualify for the New Delhi World Cup in February has placed interim coach Tai Beng Hai's job on the line.
Now, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will wait for a report from team manager George Koshy, as well as an overall report of how the team fared in all the tournaments coached by Beng Hai.
MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said even though the team qualified for the final, they failed to achieve the target of qualifying for the World Cup.
"The target was for them to qualify for the World Cup, and they failed. Even though they played well against New Zealand and took the lead, only to collapse in the last 13 minutes, we need to review their overall performance under Beng Hai," said Tengku Abdullah.
Malaysia last qualified on merit for the 1998 Utrecht World Cup in Netherlands. Kuala Lumpur hosted the 2002 edition and the team failed to qualify for the 2006 Germany World Cup.
And with the 2010 tournament also out of sight now, the MHF needs to have an urgent re-look at its development as well as future plans.
"We want to know how many matches the team won and lost in tournaments this year under Beng Hai. And then a decision will be made.
"And we are keeping our options open on hiring a foreign coach next year as we look to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics," said Tengku Abdullah.
Malaysia lost twice in the Qualifier, both against New Zealand with scores of 4-2 and 2-1.
The national players will return on Tuesday, and will represent their clubs in the Malaysia Hockey League for the next two months.