Hockey Olympic Qualifier: Azlan: We must not take Italy for granted

National skipper Azlan Misron has warned his team-mates not to take Italy for granted in the Olympic qualifiers.

Malaysia will play Italy for the first time in the international arena and have no knowledge of their rivals’ capabilities.

Malaysia opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Poland while Italy suffered a 0-8 defeat by world champions Germany.

Azlan said although Italy looked quite ordinary against Germany, Malaysia must not under-estimate the Italians.

“What is important is bagging full points from the match. Let us not worry too much about the goals. We had a good start by beating Poland and we need to build on that victory. We can be happy with the game against Poland,” he said.

Italy are ranked 37th in the world while Malaysia are 14th.

National coach Sarjit Singh agreed, saying: “We are a better side and we should win if we play our normal game.”