Malaysia beat Japan but fail to advance to semi-finals
Close clash: New Zealand's Hayden Phillips (centre) is challenged by Pakistan's Junaid Manzoor during their Group B match in the Nations Cup. — Bernama
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Malaysia beat Japan but fail to advance to semi-finals
Close clash: New Zealand's Hayden Phillips (centre) is challenged by Pakistan's Junaid Manzoor during their Group B match in the Nations Cup. — Bernama
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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia started the day needing a big favour from New Zealand and they got it. The Kiwis, who played their Nations Cup Group B match at 6pm, beat Pakistan 4-3 at Bukit Jalil. And this was the type of score needed to keep alive Malaysia's semi-finals hopes. Malaysia, who started their match against Japan two hours later, suddenly found themselves with a golden opportunity to squeeze into the semi-finals, ahead of Pakistan on goal difference. Now it was the turn of Sarjit Singh's team to do their part, get a two-goal win against Japan. And the Japanese even seemed to pave the way for the Speedy Tigers by conceding two goals and falling behind 2-0. Malaysia scored through Norsyafiq Sumantri (fifth minute) and Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (26th). But four minutes from time, the stick wielding Samurai got one back. Only one goal and Japan also lost the match, but it was enough to break Malaysian hearts and wreck Malaysian dreams. Malaysia should blame themselves for conceding that goal after letting Koji Yamasaki sound the board in the 56th minute. It sounded like harakiri, a self-inflicted fatal wound conceded due to lapse of concentration, that same old sad story. Malaysia and Pakistan both had four points from three group matches, but the Green Shirts qualified for the semi-finals on goal difference. Fitri, who had nothing to be joyful about despite being named Man of the Match, said that his team always conceded "opening minute goals" and "final minutes goals" in matches. "We need to find an answer to the problem," he lamented. Sarjit said that the team knew they needed a two-goal margin, and he had told the players it was important to get the third goal. "Now we have to refocus and make sure we finish fifth after failing to achieve our semi-final target," said Sarjit. Results Group B: New Zealand 4 3 Pakistan Malaysia 2 1 Japan June 20: 5th-8th classification
