KUALA LUMPUR: Despite ample exposure and meticulous preparation before the Junior World Cup (JWC), the Young Tigers couldn't produce their best and fell short of their quarter-final target in the tournament.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) left no stone unturned, providing top-notch support to the team, including hiring foreign experts to assist Amin Rahim's boys in honing their skills.
The team played an impressive 45 matches since last year, participating in tournaments such as the Sultan of Johor Cup and the Junior Asia Cup in Oman, and tours in Australia and Europe. However, despite the extensive preparation, they couldn't match the top teams in Group A.
In the opening match, Malaysia dominated Chile with a convincing 7-1 victory. Still, subsequent losses to defending champions Argentina (4-0) and Australia (5-2) saw them finish third in Group A.
Among those hired to assist the team were Australians Terry Walsh and Chris Cello, John Archbold, and Stephen van Huizen.
Former national players Megat Azrafiq, Baljit Singh, Roslan Jamaluddin, and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin were also part of the coaching setup.
Olympian Maninderjit Singh said the team should blame themselves for the failure.
"The team were provided everything thanks to MHC, the National Sports Council and the National Sports Institute. They failed miserably in front of the home fans," said Maninderjit.
"They should have done better against Argentina and Australia, but were inconsistent.
"The team did not show any commanding performance against the higher-ranked teams. Furthermore, they do not have good goalkeepers."
Goalkeepers Rafaizul Saini and Danish Afnan conceded a total of 10 goals in three matches, and second-choice keeper Danish Afnan was not utilised.
Maninderjit also touched on Malaysia's poor penalty corner conversion rate in the tournament.
"The team hired Australian penalty corner specialist Cello to help them, but the team were poor. The players were also poor in defending penalty corners.
"I think some of the players have fitness issues. They also received unnecessary green and yellow cards that affected the team during matches," he added.
Looking ahead, Maninderjit advised MHC to start early in preparing for the next JWC in 2025.