With the defeat, national coach Sarjit Singh’s men have only one point and are placed third in the four-team standings, with France sitting at the top with six points while Pakistan (four points) are second and Canada (no points) at the bottom.

According to the tournament format, the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals, which means Malaysia must beat Canada by a huge margin on Wednesday and, at the same time, hope for Pakistan to lose to France the following day.

In today’s match, France drew first blood after five minutes with a Timothee Clement penalty corner goal before Malaysian hitman Faizal Saari equalised in the 28th minute.

But the Speedy Tigers’ joy was short-lived as France made it 2-1 through a Francois Goyet field goal in the 43rd minute before Etienne Tyvenes confirmed victory with a penalty stroke goal in the 60th minute.

Last Friday, world No 13 Malaysia blew a three-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Pakistan in their opening Group B match.

There are two groups in the Nations Cup, with five teams in Group A (New Zealand, Poland, Austria, South Africa and South Korea) and four in Group B.

The third and fourth-placed teams from each group will play in the fifth-eighth classification matches. The semifinals will be held this coming Saturday and the final on Sunday.