Malaysia vs Wales Match Report

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Malaysia put the defeat at the hands of Italy at the back of their minds to carve out a 2-1  win over Wales in the playoff for a place in the semi finals.

The win gives Malaysia the right to take on Austria in Friday’s semifinals and going by their performance tonight they look set to make Saturday’s final.

“ There was a strong desire from the entire team to win and we translated that into a strong performance,” said skipper Shukri Mutalib.

“ We are a team that can handle criticism and we appreciate the concern on our performances.

“ We aim to do better and improve on our weaknesses and at the same time cut down on losing the ball often.

“ Austria are not going to be easy and they are a hard running team and we can expect a tough match.”

Malaysia had settled well from the beginning and matched the Welsh for pace and tenacity.

Malaysia wasted two penalty corners in the first half and had a lion share of possession.

But Wales kept it tight at the  back and used their  physique to disposes the smaller sized Malaysians .

A long ball from Najmi Farizal Jazlan into the semi circle saw the ball fall to Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tg Jalil , who sidestepped a tackle to hammer the ball past Welsh keeper Ieuen Tranter in the 27th minute.

It was Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin’s third goal in the tournament.

With their nerves shooting, the Malaysians started playing with more confidence.

Wales were  quick off the blocks in the third quarter and forced their first penalty corner after a turnover in the middle of the pitch.

Malaysian keeper Hairi Rahman partially redeemed his mistake against Italy by pulling off a splendid mid- drift save diving on his right to deny Gareth Furlong.

Malaysia won their third penalty corner in the 36th minute but as Razie Rahim played the ball to Najmi  Farizal whose attempt was Clare’s by the Welsh defence.

But Malaysia were not to be denied their second.

Another long ball by Razie picked up Faisal Saari in the semi circle and he sidestepped the Wakes keeper to send a reverse hit into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 in the 40th minute.

Luke Hawker scored for Wales in the 56th minute to set up an interesting last few minutes.

But Malaysia held on to their lead with some determined defending to book a place in the semis.

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