Painful start for Malaysia in World Cup
By Jugjet Singh
BHUBANESWAR (India): Malaysia had a bad start to their World Cup campaign when they were hammered 7-0 by the Netherlands at the Kalinga Stadium yesterday.
And the only consolation is that the Malaysian Tigers have four days of rest and to lick their wounds before they play Pakistan in their second Group D match for the three crucial points to advance to the next stage.
“We need to play the Dutch more regularly,” said Malaysia coach Roelant Oltmans after his men were outplayed in every department of the game.
“We last played them about 10 years ago, and my players did not know how to handle their style of play. Netherlands showed world class form, and that is why everybody has put them as the favourites to win this tournament.
“Looking at the good side, we have four days of rest before we play the match of our target (Pakistan).
“We have ample time to analyse what went wrong in this game, and make a comeback in the next.
“That's what this game is all about... to come back stronger as we still have objectives to reach in this World Cup," said Oltmans.
Dutch skipper Martin Haner epitomised their hunger: “We could have done better, and so, we will have a re-look at areas which we did not perform in this match today to improve as the tournament progresses.”
Three world class goals from the Dutch, five blunders from Malaysian defenders, and six super saves from goalkeeeper S. Kumar summed up the first half.
Malaysia played well in patches, but rarely troubled the World No 4 Dutch, who not only towered above all our players, but were also superior in basics as well as skills.
It was a moment of reality check for the World No 12, as they struggled to keep pace in every department.
And if not for Kumar, the Dutch thrashing would have been too painful to watch.
In the second half, the Dutch became more comfortable as Malaysia became desperate to defend against an avalanche of goals.
The Dutch players who got their names on the scoreboard were Jeroen Hertzberger (11th, 29th, 60th), Mirco Pruijser (21st), Mink van der Weerden (35th), Robbert Kemperman (42nd) and Thierry Brinkman (57th).