KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia clinched 11th place in the Junior World Cup after beating Austria 2-1 in a penalty shootout at the Major Dyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow, India.
The Malaysians were held to a 2-2 stalemate in regulation time by the Austrians who battled back from a two-goal deficit.
During the shootout, Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi and Rafizul Mustafa converted while Mohamed Amirol Arshad and Norsyafiq Sumantri fluffed their shots.
The Austrians net their attempt through Philip Schmid.
Malaysia did well to score two goals in the first-half but squandered it with some poor defending after the breather.
Austria had the better share of the game in the second-half and could have wrapped up the game but failed to make their chances count.
Malaysia opened accounts in the eighth minute through a field goal by Mohamed Zulhamizan.
Six minutes later, Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi sounded the board off another field goal.
The Austrians reduced the deficit in the 26th minute through Olivier Binder.
Malaysia then paid the price for poor defending when Peter Kaltenbok equalised in the 41st minute to take the game to the shootout.
Congratulations to Muhammad Firdaus & Malaysian team. Well done!
Note : This article is adopted from The Star Online, dated 18th December 2016