Spain had all the possession, circle penetration and shots on goal, but in the end, it needed a penalty shootout to prevail against a resolute Malaysia to book its quarterfinal berth. Mario Garin, who watched the 2-2 draw from the bench, turned hero in the shootouts with two saves to give Spain a 4-3 win in the crossover here at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.
The Spanish coach Max Caldas felt his team should have won comfortably, but Malaysia kept coming up with answers to all the questions posed with the ball by Spain. Spain was pedestrian in its passing and kept running into Malaysian sticks in numbers inside the circle.
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Spain’s best efforts came from penalty corners early on, and Marc Miralles’ drag-flicks were palmed away by Hafizuddin Othman, whose saves were crucial in keeping Malaysia in the contest, including one in the penultimate minute of regulation time from a penalty corner. Othman also gave Malaysia the advantage in the shootout with a save off skipper Alvaro Iglesias.
After a goalless first half, Spain came out with renewed vigour but it was Malaysia, which took the lead. In the 34th minute, Jali fizzed a long pass along the turf into the edge of the Spanish circle, where Faizal Saari’s movement befuddled the two Spanish defenders allowing Saari to pick his spot and fire the ball in to sound the board.
After the goal, Spain displayed improved technical quality and pace in its attack, leading to errors inside the circle from Malaysia. An infringement on the goalline from a penalty corner led to a penalty stroke, from which Miralles converted to draw the scores level.
Spain immediately went ahead with brilliant play from Pere Amat, who was drafted in as an injury replacement earlier in the day, around the baseline. Amat dribbled past two defenders before playing the ball into Iglesias, who touched it onto an unmarked Xavier Gispert to score.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Amirul Azahar fired the ball into the net but was chalked out for a backstick in the build-up from Saari. Malaysia didn’t have to wait long for the equaliser as a miscued effort inside the Spanish circle found its way towards Shello Silverius, who reverse hit the ball past Adrian Rafi from inside the six-yard area.
Malaysia survived with a draw with some tense defending in the final minutes after a wave of Spanish attacks and force the shootout. In the end, Garin came up trumps with saves against Marhan Jalil and Firhan Ashari to send Spain through to the next round.
