Malaysia head coach Roelant Oltmans is confident of the national men's hockey team claiming a top 10 finish at the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India.
He said the Speedy Tigers have players with creativity and talent to meet the target at the tournament taking place from November 28 to December 12.
However, the Dutchman's priority is to focus on securing at least one win in the group stage in order to secure a berth to the knockout phase in Malaysia’s eighth World Cup appearance.
Malaysia are in Pool D, considered as the group of death as it comprises four-time champions Pakistan, three-time winners Netherlands and two-time champions Germany.
"Of course the top 10 is possible, but it is also difficult because they have to beat the strongest teams in the world.
"If we beat one team and advance to the second round, most likely we have to face Belgium, another strong team.
"But anything is possible in the knockout phase, like how Malaysia defeated India through a shootout at the Asian Games.
"We are actually moving to a higher level, we play a structured game and I have enough knowledge against the European teams [to achieve it]," he said in a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
The former India and Pakistan coach, who also won the World Cup title with the Netherlands women’s team in 1990 and men’s team in 1998, admitted that the players must know how to react according to the situations and avoid conceding in the final minutes of the matches, like what happened in the past including at the Asian Games.
The national side, ranked 12th in the world, would start the campaign against world number four Netherlands on December 1, followed by clashes against Pakistan (13th) on December 5 and Germany (6) on December 9.
According to the new tournament format, the top-placed teams from all four groups would advance straight to the quarter-finals, while second- and third-placed teams would play in the knockout stage to vie for their berth for the last eight stage.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Subahan Kamal said three test matches against the world number nine New Zealand would take place on November 16, 20 and 22 at the National Hockey Stadium.
"The test matches against the Black Sticks is crucial for us to be in best form ahead of the World Cup.
"They will be doing their preparations here, so we managed to get them for the test matches.
"The MHC hopes our boys will put up a good show to get a decent outing at the World Cup.
"A strong finish at the World Cup is important for our 2020 Tokyo Olympics too, because the rankings will determine who our opponents will be,” he said.
Malaysia’s best ever outing at the World Cup was a fourth-place finish when hosting the 1975 edition, and during the previous edition in 2014, the national side finished sixth in Pool A among as many teams, after losing all five matches.
Bernama
Tue Nov 13 2018
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