Sunday, October 30, 2016

Fourth consecutive bronze for Malaysia...

MALAYSIA won their fourth consecutive Asian Champions Trophy bronze medal when they beat South Korea 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out in Kuantan Sunday.
  It was the Fourth Edition of the ACT, and Malaysia held Korea 1-1 before winning the shoot-out confidently.
  In the final -- will send one more para -- one more para.
  After a poot shoot-out in the semi-finals against Pakistan on Saturday, Firhan Ashaari, Faizal Shaari and Nabil Fiqri were all Malaysia needed to win the bronze while the other two players were never needed.
  Goalkeper S. Kumar brought off three saves and was the hero of the moment.
  "It has been a tough tournament as we had to play seven matches in a packed schedule because the tournament rules were changed to the semi-finals format instead of the norm in the last three editions where the top-two teams after the round-robbin qualify for the final.
  "Malaysia (who finished second in the pool) would have been in the final if not for the change of format to semi-finals in a six-team tournament," lamented Kumar. who has been involved in many shoot-outs in his career.
  Kumar also said after watching the video of the Korea-India semi-finals shoot-out, he knew what to do yesterday.
  "I have been in many shoot-outs before and prepared for today (yesterday) by watching the Korea-India shoot-out. It helped me identify the strikers patterns and that's why I managed to stop all of them," said Kumar.
  The rain came pouring down as Malaysia and South Korea started their quest for bronze.
  Malaysia took the lead of Shahril Saabah in the 14th minute, his fourth goal of the tournament.
  However, South Korea equalised off skipper Jung Manjae off their first penalty corner in the 17th minute.
  Shahril was yellow carded 20 seconds from half-time, and Malaysia re-entered the pitch with 10-men and looking very jaded.
  The score stood in the next two quarters, and it went to a penalty shoot-out to decide the winners.
  RESULTS: Final -- India x Pakistan x; Third-Fourth: Malaysia 1 South Korea 1 (Malaysia win shoot-out 3-1).