GOAL-SHY Malaysia will face goal-getters France in the quarter-final of hockey's Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India, on Wednesday.
And "parking the bus", like they did against Belgium in the remarkable 1-1 draw, will not work against France who had scored a total of 23 goals in three matches.
The Malaysian team barely kept their heads above the water in beating Chile 2-1, holding 2016 silver medallists Belgium to a draw and edging South Africa 4-3 to crawl into the last eight from Group A at an empty Kalinga Stadium.
France started with a warning by upstaging hosts India 5-4 before whitewashing Poland 7-1 and Canada 11-1 to top Group B.
Antonin Igau, the player-of-the-match in the Canada bashing, said: "We played very well throughout the group stage. So, we are very happy.
"Clinching the top spot of the pool is really hard, especially with India in the same pool.
"We're very proud of this performance. Winning against India is always amazing, and even more so in India. So, for sure, this has given us confidence for the rest of the tournament."
Timothée Clement is the man for Malaysia to mark out of the quarter-finals as he had scored eight goals in three matches, and seven were through penalty corners.
Looking back, France were the thorn in Malaysia's flesh at the 2013 Junior World Cup semi-final in New Delhi. The match ended 1-1 in regulation time, and France won 3-1 in the shootout.
However, in 2016 France did not qualify for the Lucknow Junior World Cup, but they are back to haunt Malaysia this time.
"We know very well that defending against a team like France will be suicidal, as they had scored from every angle, and their forwards are skilful as well.
"They do not play the usual brand of European hockey and their forwards are very agile in the semi-circle. We will have to plan this quarter-final in a very special manner," said Malaysia team manager I. Vikneswaran.
In retrospect, Malaysia's 2013 eam were much better prepared than the present batch who were bogged down by Covid-19 for the past two years.
"Paris will be hosting the 2024 Olympics, and I believe a lot of effort has been placed on France's junior players for Bhubaneswar, leading up to Paris.
"They are one of the most dangerous teams in this edition, but we have our plans to stop them," said Vikneswaran.