KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia lost the Azlan Shah Cup bronze medal by a whisker when they were beaten by Olympic champions Argentina 3-2 in a pulsating encounter Saturday.
Argentina took a 2-0 lead off Juan Lopez (first minute), and Gonzalo Peillat (22nd), but Joel van Huizen (24th) and Faizal Shaari (27th) drew level for Malaysia.
Pedro Ibarra nailed the winner off a 49th minute penalty corner attempt.
There was drama until the final seconds, as Malaysia removed goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman and replaced him with an extra defender, and almost scored but luck was not with them.
With five seconds on the clock, Azri Hassan and Faizal Shaari failed to touch a bouncing ball, hit from outside the semi-circle, which went sailing in.
The video referal cooled down edgy Argentina nerves, as it cleary showed Asri missing the bouncing ball by centimetres, followed by another centimetre miss by Faizal.
The Argentinians emerged champions in Ipoh in 2008 and runners-up four years later while Malaysians have yet to win the title since the inception of the tournament in 1983.
RESULTS: Final -- Australia 2 England 1, Third-Fourth: Argentina 3 Malaysia 2; Fifth-Sixth: India 4 Ireland 1.
