Days before the 4 nation Juniors tournament could commence, the national coach for the Juniors was looking at entering the finals. A strange statement to make, thereby giving the impression of a degree of "cockiness". Is it confidence building or utter stupidity? Time would be able to answer the question but the initial reading of the compass is pointing to the direction of "bankrupt mental faculty" of the coaches and team management of the national juniors.
One does not have to be a "rocket scientist" to know that this tournament is all about "warm up" for the Junior World Cup (JWC). Any reasonable coach would try out as many players and various tactics and strategy to find the best mix. It is also to see the strength and weakness and try to refine them before JWC. Equally it also gives a better understanding of the standards of teams like Pakistan and India, as they are probably in the top 6 in the JWC. So winning or losing this tournament is no big thing except that the Malaysian coach has made it so.
When the coach creates an expectation than he creates a sense of feeling among the fans of the strength of his squad. When they do not perform or struggle to perform with team like Singapore, the expectation the coach had created gets smashed and shattered like broken glass.
This is when the fans believe they were taken for a "ride" and become disgusted with Malaysian hockey.
It is known fact that the team is handled by the so called coordinator i.e the German coach. Therefore, one wonders whether the national coach comments are to give a perception that he is in-charge and calling the shots. If that is what he wants then i think he must face the music. Obviously the coordinator must be enjoying the scenario as he is not under public pressure and he can always put his face up and walk. The national coach has to pay the price for seeking glamour.
The "make believe" scenario seem to be something very well entrenched in MHF. The message seem to be everything is OK. Is it really or is it in KO situation? One thing is for sure and that is Malaysian hockey is sinking and nothing is taking place to prove otherwise. All the "blitzkrieg" that was done in the last few months on hockey seem just another publicity exercise. I wonder whether the real work from the Master Plan to the strategy and implementation is in place. All i see is "heavyweight" names in various committees but they all seem to be extremely "lightweight" in their work load. This is Malaysian hockey.
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