KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian hockey teams have failed too many times, and there are a few key issues that they need to resolve for the Olympic Qualifier in Muscat, Oman, from Jan 15-21 if they are to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Former international defender Maninderjit Singh said the national senior and junior teams failed to impress in competitions last year.
The national juniors fared poorly in the recent Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, finishing 12th.
The senior men's team could only finish sixth at last year's Hangzhou Asian Games, and Malaysia lost the indoor gold medal at the Phnom Penh Sea Games.
"Our next key event is the Olympic Qualifier in Oman. The team need to finish top three to qualify for Paris," said Maninderjit.
World No. 12 Malaysia will meet world No. 23 China (Jan 15), world No. 4 Great Britain (Jan 16) and world No. 16 Pakistan (Jan 18).
World champions Germany are in Group B with Canada, Chile and New Zealand.
"We need to focus on goalkeeping. We still lack the stability and need a reliable and consistent goalkeeper to keep the team in a match.
Based on calculations, our PCA (penalty corner attack) is very low, hitting about 11-13 per cent, which means we need six to seven PCs to score a goal whereas the top nations' PCA ratio is about 25-30 per cent, averaging a goal in every three PCs.
"If they get six to eight PCs a match, they will score two or three goals, and this is the right standard.
"As for penalty corner defence (PCD), our average is 40-55 per cent, which means when top teams get an average of three or four PCs, they are able to score a goal. A good PCD ratio should be more than 60 per cent.
"We need to be consistent in every quarter. We tend to play well in either one or two quarters.
"To excel in international hockey, every quarter is a prerequisite to obtaining results.
"We have to avoid the 'chasing match' syndrome, always going down against the opponents and never being commanding even with weaker teams.
"We need three or four styles of play with unpredictable formation if we want to excel and win matches at international hockey.
"I have spoken to many great coaches. They said that Malaysia's style of play is very predictable, which allows opponents to take advantage.
"We now know that most teams are using sports code Version 12 (a type of team strategy) to analyse the weaknesses and strengths of each team.
"A vital element that is going to be crucial in the coming Olympic Qualifier is the readiness and confidence of the team to execute powerplay when needed.
"In my view, we lack the trust and confidence in the setup on execution of such play when it matters most.
"We need eight players to be prepared to take the penalty shootout, and this element can take place and will decide our fate in January soon.
"More emphasis must be given to powerplay and shootout till we master it.
"The weather in Muscat in January is going to be between 17-25 Celsius, and it will be cool and nice for teams to perform at their best.
"I wish the Malaysian team the very best and good preparation, and a Happy New Year.
"It's now or never for Malaysia to be back in the Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Olympics."