Azlan Shah Cup: Malaysia take off 10May2010

Malaysia’s Izwan Firdaus Ahmad Tajuddin tussles with Egypt goalkeeper Farahat Abd El Razak in their 19th Azlan Shah Cup match yesterday. — Picture by Ikhwan Munir.

MALAYSIA finally found their winning touch in the Azlan Shah Cup when they beat Egypt 5-0 in Ipoh yesterday.

And after a day's rest, they will face top-of-the-table India tomorrow who stunned Australia 4-3 yesterday, and wrap up their fixtures against China on Thursday knowing that they need six points for a respectable finish.

Malaysia had to beat Egypt to stay afloat in the Azlan Shah Cup, but started off listlessly and strikers Azlan Misron, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Hafifihafiz Hanafi were clueless when presented with chances.

This continued for a good 20 minutes, and the crowd became restless as Egypt started to come out of their semi-circle and started attacking.

After a few close shaves, the national players finally got their act together in the 24th minute when Azlan scored a freak goal for the much needed lead.

Azlan raced into the semi-circle but lost the ball when Egyptian goalkeeper Farahat El Razak shielded it from him, but in his haste, the goalkeeper fumbled and allowed the ball to trickle into goal.

And Malaysia increased their lead off their second penalty corner in the 33rd minute when Amin Rahim made a dummy and passed the ball to 19-year-old Faizal Saari to flick high into the net.

The second half saw more urgency from Malaysia and in the 40th minute, the lead was increased to 3-0 when Amin made a direct penalty corner attempt.

A minute later Azlan scored his second after connecting home a pass from close range.

The Egyptians were beaten, but Malaysia needed more goals and Tengku Ahmad delivered the fifth in the 56th minute.

Defending champions India pulled off a major upset when they beat World No 1 Australia 4-3 in a thriller.

India, unbeaten after four matches, only need three points from their remaining matches against Malaysia and Egypt to make the final.

India took a 3-0 lead into the breather with Tushar Khandker (19th, 33rd) and Rajpal Singh (21st) on target.

However, they allowed the Aussies back into the match with goals from Trent Milton (38th) and Christopher Ciriello (40th) before Shivendra Singh came to their rescue with a 61st minute goal to make it 4-2.

Australia narrowed the gap with 30 seconds remaining on the clock off a Mark Paterson field goal.

In the day's other match, South Korea beat China 5-3 and will have to beat Australia and Pakistan to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive.