Waqas sizzles, Pakistan score upset win over Spain: Champions Trophy
World champions Germany also picked up their second victory in the tournament when they soundly defeated Britain 4-0.
The Netherlands, the defending champions, fell behind early in the match as Malaysia took a shock lead through Kelvinder Singh in the 18th minute.
But the Dutch soon established control and in quick succession blasted replies through Taeke Taekema, Rob Reckers and Ronald Brouwer. They would have had more if not for the brilliance of Malaysian goalkeeper S. Kumar.
Germany meanwhile had to work hard for their victory over Britain. They opened the scoring late in the first half when Sebastien Draguhn slammed in a penalty corner in the 32nd minute. They scored again through forward Matthias Witthaus in the 38th and 71st minutes and Carlos Nevado-Gonzales in the 58th.
In an earlier match, former tournament champions Pakistan recovered from a shaky start to upset world number four Spain 2-0 thanks to a brilliant display by young forward Waqas Sharif, who netted a goal and made another.
After their failure in the recent Asian Cup, which was claimed by India, Pakistan are playing here with an inexperienced side, but Spain looked to be struggling to cope with the heat despite high expectations surrounding the side.
As in their match on Thursday, when they held Korea to a 2-2 draw, Spain - runners-up at the recent European Championships - controlled the match at the start but begin to wilt as it wore on.
Against Pakistan, they paid the price for not finishing off the chances that came their way. Waqas, who also scored against Germany Thursday, broke through and thumped home a superb cross by teammate Ali Akhtar in the 55th minute.
Five minutes later, the 19-year-old put through Ali, whose shot beat Spanish goalkeeper Santiago Freixa.
Spanish coach Maurits Hendriks refused to blame the weather for the poor performance and said his players should have made more of their chances.
“I’m absolutely 100 per cent convinced that Spain will raise its game during this tournament. Let there be no doubt and let there be no question about that,” he said.
Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans said that despite their two victories in Malaysia they would still face a difficult task when they meet Spain in their next match on Sunday.
“Today, they rested some key players and I expect a tough time for us,” he said.
Pakistan coach Manzoor-ul Hassan said his side were fired up to do better after their defeat to Germany Thursday.
“First of all, I’m really happy with the performances of my team and the boys... as we didn’t play well last night,” he said.— AFP