Asian Champions Trophy hockey 2023: It’s time for Malaysia to earn its stripes Premium

Led by coach Arul Anthoni, Malaysia aims for glory with Azrai Aizad’s scoring prowess and Razie Rahim’s defensive abilities.

Azrai Aizad’s inclusion will be important for Malaysia. The 23-year-old midfielder top-scored in the Malaysian Hockey League with 40 goals, with 33 field play goals to take his club to the final. | Photo Credit: FIH

In the World Cup earlier this year, Malaysia showed plenty of promise before being dealt with a harsh reality check. The Speedy Tigers gave a strong fight to Spain in a penalty shootout defeat in the crossover stage. But the humbling 3-6 loss to South Africa and a narrow 3-2 win over Japan in the classification meant there was plenty of work to be done behind the scenes.

Head coach Arul Anthoni wasn’t pleased with the team’s defensive performance where the team repeated a familiar pattern of going behind in the opening two quarters of the game. Anthoni also said his team failed to keep their emotions in check when it came to big match scenarios.

In preparation for the Asian Champions Trophy, Malaysia played a series of friendlies against South Korea in Incheon where Anthoni experimented with a new system to mixed results. The team lost once, and drew twice before winning the final game. Malaysia blew two 2-0 leads and conceded another 1-0 lead to end up drawing the game 2-2.

More importantly, Anthoni stressed on plenty of work rate and pressing within the playing system. He also interchanged positions of players with striker Azrai Aizad moved into midfield, while Fitri Saari, who is back in the squad after three years, has been shifted up top in attack.

Asian Champions Trophy record

Titles: 0

Matches: 32

Won: 18

Drawn: 4

Lost: 10

Goals: 87

Aizad’s inclusion will be important for Malaysia after an injury forced him to miss the World Cup but is now fit and firing again. The 23-year-old midfielder top-scored in the Malaysian Hockey League with 40 goals, with 33 field play goals to take his club to the final. If Malaysia is to go far in the tournament in Chennai, Aizad will likely have a big say in it.

Veteran Razie Rahim will be the key piece holding the team together in defence and the team’s penalty corner specialist with his lethal drag flicks.

He found his angles and power behind the drag flicks by scoring 23 penalty corner goals in the domestic league.

Malaysia managed five successive third-place finishes in the Asian Champions Trophy since its inception before pulling out of the 2021 edition in Bangladesh. The 2023 edition will provide the World No. 10 side the opportunity to build momentum in its bid to improve on its silver medal from the 2018 Asian Games.

Anthoni’s Malaysia has all the tools to make it to the semifinals of the Champions Trophy and possibly even push tournament favourite India for the title in Chennai.