FIH Men's Series Finals: Malaysia, Canada make the semis
FIH Men's Series Finals: Malaysia, Canada make the semis The host Malaysia and the highest ranked team Canada at last managed to get their expected positions in semis of the FIH Men's Series Finals at Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. While Canada beat China 3-1 in penalty shootout, Malaysia beat Wales 2-1 in the cross-over games to move to the classification round. Canada will now play Italy and Malaysia will take on Austria in the semis on Friday. Though Malaysia won 2-1 against hard working Wales, it was a game that could have gone either way. However, the win came as a big relief for the die hard home team supporters who were on the edge of their seats as Wales pulled one back to cut the lead to 1-2 with four minutes remaining. Wales did pull out its goalkeeper but could not get any further on a day when things went the home team's way. Also Read: FIH Men's Series Finals: Malaysia, Canada to go all out tomorrow It was the third encounter between the two nations and Malaysians were happy to get a favourable result. Tengku Tajuddin, who has emerged as the darling of the home crowd, lived up to his reputation as the saviour. It was he who set the scoring in motion with a rasping drive from the middle of the circle in the 26th minute. It was basically a half chance on which Tajuddin capitalised. He made full use of the ball that bounced onto his stick from a short melee. Also Read: Bangladesh cricket team flees mosque shooting After taking lead in the first half, Malaysia got a major relief when Faizal Saari scored a brilliant field goal to consolidate the lead. Wales after putting a gallant fight started showing signs of fatigue before a long pass sent by Rupert Shippley in the 56th minute found Luke Hawker deflecting the ball in to make the score 1-2. It did fuse some fresh life into the game in the last four minutes as determined Malaysians stood their ground well. -PTC NEWS
