KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian hockey team's main issue is always failing to win the crucial matches in tournaments.
This weakness was exposed again in the recent World Cup in India which saw Malaysia finishing joint 13th with France.
This was said by former international Maninderjit Singh.
He said in the crossover match for a quarter-final slot, Malaysia had the upper hand against a young Spanish team. Malaysia took the lead twice 1-0 and 2-1 but allowed the Spanish to equalise. Eventually Malaysia lost the penalty shootout 4-3. Otherwise Malaysia could have been in the quarter-final and finished among the top eight.
Maninderjit pointed out that the national team received a lot of support from the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) and the National Sports Council (NSC) in the last two years in preparation for the World Cup.
"The team had 10 officials like a mental trainer, physical instructor, dietitian and others to motivate them in the World Cup but they failed to deliver when it mattered most in the tournament.
"This is a syndrome that has been happening with the Malaysian team in tournaments for the last few years.
"We had a very good chance to beat the young Spanish team, who have less than 1,000 caps among them, and they are going through a transition period.
"Instead we finished joint 13th with France, and this is like improving by just one position from the last World Cup (also in India in 2018), where we finished 15th out of 16 teams.
"This is one issue that the national team need to rectify for their upcoming tournaments, especially the Asian Games (in Hangzhou from Sept 23-Oct 8), which is the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics," said the Olympian.
Maninderjit said the Speedy Tigers need to play quality matches against the top six teams in the world to improve their game.
"The standard of the top six teams is very high and playing against them will benefit the national players.
"The national team also need to focus more on their penalty corner variations which is crucial in winning matches.
"They need good drag flickers and also need to execute good set pieces to deliver goals in tournaments.
"The other issue is that we don't have good bench players that can play as good as the other players. These bench players cannot play the same tempo like the others and this affects the team's performance."
Maninderjit added that the national team need to overcome all these aspects if they are to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
The last time Malaysia played in the Olympics was in Sydney in 2000.