HOSTS Ireland could pull a rabbit out of the hat to block Malaysia’s title aspirations when the two teams meet in the semifinal of the Champions II in Dublin tomorrow.

Ireland may have been one of the tournament’s dark horses coming into the tournament but the Irishmen surprised themselves by finishing second in the group to clinch a place in the semifinals.

Now, they are hoping to go one step further when they face Malaysia. Malaysia’s coach, Tai Beng Hai however, believes his charges will rise to the occasion though he reckons that the match will be very closely fought.

“The knockout stages are always very tricky. These ties can swing from one end to the other. The semifinal is a different league altogether, therefore it’s a totally different ball game. Most of the time, the matches end up with either side winning with a one-goal difference.

“Ireland are a good side just like all other teams in the tournament. It doesn’t matter who we play, we have to treat every team with the same level of respect — something that I tell our players all the time.

“Ireland are a very hardworking team and are always on the offensive. So, we can’t afford to be laid back at all. The players’ attitude is good and they approach the match with confidence. That’s what we’ll be seeing till the end of the tournament,” concluded Beng Hai.

Malaysia rounded up their group phase with maximum points after a 4-3 win over Russia. But the match against the Russians had little significance as Malaysia have already booked their berth in the semifinals prior to that. Thus Beng Hai gave the fringe players more playing time and it paid handsome dividends.

Faizal Saari, who was roped into the team after impressing in the recent Junior World Cup, slammed in the winner for Malaysia just four minutes from the end for his first senior goal for the national team. Once again Malaysia conceded equalisers after taking the lead.

Against Russia, Malaysia scored in the eight minute — the third time they have scored very early in the match. Ismail Abu sent the ball past the Russia keeper from a penalty corner set piece. They added another to make it 2-0 through Hafiz Hafifi Hanafi on the half hour.

However, Russia fired a quick double (Alexey Sergeev 42nd, Alexey Mamoshkin 43rd) to draw level. In the 53rd minute, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin restored Malaysia’s lead before Sergeev grabbed his brace just four minutes later to put his side on level terms yet again. Faizal finally put an exciting match to bed when he clinically put the ball into goal for a 4-3 scoreline.