BHUBANESWAR, India: Malaysia drew 1-1 with Pakistan today, a score which barely keeps their hopes alive in Group D of hockey’s World Cup.
In what was expected to be a turning point in their campaign, Malaysia failed to capitalise on the seven penalty corners that came their way, and had to settle for a point instead.
Now, they must beat Germany in their final group match and hope Pakistan get thrashed by the Netherlands for any hope of advancing past the group stage.
Pakistan took the lead off Atiq Mohamed in the 51st minute while Malaysia’s face-saving goal was delivered by Faizal Saari in the 55th minute.
"We have made it difficult for ourselves after this draw. We could not get more goals even though we had more than enough penalty corners in this match.
“Now, we must fight the Germans with all we have to qualify for the crossover," said Malaysia’s 64-year-old Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans.
Faizal Saari, who was disappointed with the scoreline, said: “We should have won this match, and I am disappointed with the draw.
"But we still have one more match and it's not over yet."
Malaysia could have sealed the match in 35 minutes, but missed all four penalty corners that came their way.
And Pakistan were not impressive as well, as they won only two penalty corners and bungled both as well.
The statistics were damning, as Malaysia and Pakistan's only shots at goal were off penalty corners while the strikers from both sides failed to test the goalkeepers.
Malaysia goalkeeper S. Kumar had a relatively easier match compared to the 7-0 drubbing by the Netherlands.
The best chance was in the second quarter, when Azri Hassan found an unmarked Joel van Huizen who only had goalkeeper Imran Butt to beat, but Joel could not trap the ball properly and the moment went to waste.
The second half was also erratic, as Malaysia only came alive in the last 10 minutes, but it was not enough to snatch full points from Pakistan.