Malaysia’s dream of playing in the 2016 Olympics came to a crushing end following their brutal 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Irish, which ensured that Ireland will be on the plane to Rio de Janeiro at the expense of Malaysia.
Malaysia, who had already lost to 3-2 to India and needed to win in order to keep their slim hope of qualifying alive, found themselves in a problematic situation early into the game as they were already trailing 2-0 inside the first eight minutes of the first quarter following strikes from Kyle Good and Peter Caruth.
Their uphill task became even more complicated as Ireland were 3-0 up in the 40th minute.
Although Faiz Helmi Jali pulled one back on the 55th minute, any hopes of Malaysia making a comeback quickly evaporated as Michael Darling scored in the 59th minute, restoring the Ireland’s 3 goal lead.
Malaysia had beaten Ireland in the group game, but Déjà vu was virtually impossible as they were outplayed and outclassed by an Irish side who knew that they had to win to qualify for the Olympics.
The only silver lining to take from this is that although Malaysia will finish sixth, one spot below from the fifth qualifying spot, they might still stand a slim chance of making to Rio.
However, they would have to wait and see if developments will be in their favor as New Zealand, Australia,Canada, Argentina, Germany, Holland, Great Britain and Belgium are still competing in their respective continental championships. Also, if the South African Sports Confederation continues its stance of not participating in the Olympics, another spot could be opened up.
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