KUALA LUMPUR: Sultan of Johor Cup (SoJC) silver medallists Australia have named their final squad for the Kuala Lumpur Junior World Cup (JWC) on Dec 5-16. And 15 of them saw action at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru recently.
Australia held Germany 0-0 after 60 minutes, but lost the SoJC gold 3-1 after a shootout.
Malaysia will play Australia on Dec 8, and that is expected to be their toughest match in Group A of the JWC.
The other teams that Malaysia must beat to qualify for the quarter-finals are Argentina and Chile.
Cooper Burns is the striker that Malaysia must watch out for as he scored a total of four goals in the SoJC, with three field goals and one penalty corner conversion.
Malaysia were in Group B of the SoJC and did not cross swords with Australia who were in Group A. At the group stage Australia beat Britain 3-0, drew 2-2 with Germany, beat South Africa 4-0 and Pakistan 2-0.
The Malaysian team, who finished seventh out of eight teams at their own turf, have been busy regrouping with a three-day motivational camp followed by matches with the senior squad who are preparing for the January Olympic Qualifier in Oman.
Penalty corners are being sharpened, with more set-pieces injected into training sessions as coach Amin Rahim has the unenviable task of staying afloat at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
"Coaches have their own targets for the JWC while the MHC (Malaysian Hockey Confederation) is backing the players to qualify for the quarter-finals.
"In the last JWC, our team finished eighth and it's not impossible to break free from Group A and give their best in the knockout round," said MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.
In the last JWC in 2021, Bhubaneswar, India, Argentina won their second title by defeating Germany in the final.
Malaysia were also in Group A of the 2021 JWC with Chile (won 2-1), Belgium (drew 1-1) and South Africa (won 4-3).
In the quarter-finals, Malaysia lost 4-0 to France and were hammered 9-3 by the Netherlands in the 5th-8th classification. In the 7th-8th, Spain beat Malaysia 4-1.