Malaysia kept their slim hopes of reaching the the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup alive after drawing 1-1 with Pakistan in an end-to-end encounter on Wednesday.

After Saturday's 7-0 defeat to the Netherlands, the Speedy Tigers put together a better performance against the four-time world champions, whom they lost to in the Asian Games and the Asian Champions Trophy earlier this year.

At the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India, Malaysia could count themselves unlucky not to take the lead in the first quarter, especially being awarded four penalty corners, converting none.

The game remained goalless until the start of the fourth quarter, with Muhammad Atiq breaking the deadlock from close range to give Pakistan the lead.

With time running out, Malaysia began to push forward and won a penalty corner, their seventh of the night, in the 55th minute.

Faizal Saari made no mistake and found the top left corner with a thunderous effort to draw level for Malaysia.

Pakistan, who lost to Germany in their opening match, tried their best to regain their lead, even appealing in vain for a penalty corner after the horn went off, but it finished with a first draw between both teams in Hockey World Cup history — Malaysia lost all of their previous five meetings.

However, despite avoiding a defeat, which would've ended their World Cup campaign, Malaysia have a mountain to climb to qualify for the crossover round.


As it currently stands, Malaysia are at the bottom of Pool D due to an inferior goal difference, while Germany lead the group with six points after beating the Netherlands 4-1 in an earlier match.

With them facing the Germans on December 9 before Pakistan take on the Netherlands, Malaysia need to emerge victorious to avoid depending on the result of the latter match.