When approached for his reaction regarding the matter upon his arrival with the team from Bhubanesvar, the 65-year-old Australian said his critics were not really qualified (to talk) about hockey.
“My comment is, most of the people who are talking are really not qualified about hockey.
“They do not understand what is attempted to be done is a long-term process. The results won’t be immediate,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 today.
Malaysia, ranked the world’s No. 12, were send packing early from the 16-nation World Cup campaign after a 15th place finish at the Kalinga Stadium.
The Malaysian Tigers failed to progress to the knockout round after finishing last in Group D following a 7-0 whipping by the world’s number four, the Netherlands, 1-1 tie against Pakistan (13th) and 5-3 defeat to Germany (6th).
Subsequently, the national team, which won the silver medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, was criticised by certain quarters, and there were also calls for Walsh to resign.
Asked who was to be blamed for the early exit, the 1976 Montreal Olympics silver medallist said: “Nothing prominently specific to be blamed.”
Meanwhile, national head coach Roelant Oltmans was confident that his charges had the quality to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite failing to achieve his target to secure a top 10 finish.
“We are disappointed. The start was not good (Netherlands), no doubt about that.
“The second and third matches were quite reasonable, but we were not able to recover. We had a mental breakdown in the match against Holland.
“We started well, but after conceding the second and third goals, we completely lost our structure.
“We had a chance (to advance to the second round) against Pakistan. The problem always has been that one goal, if we had scored it, we would have been in the top 10.
“We take away a lot of experience from this tournament. We are going to translate this properly and are going to work very hard in the upcoming year,” he said.
The Dutchman said the boys had good skills, but needed to improve on tactical awareness, fitness, individual mental strength and group dynamics to be at their peak for the 2020 Tokyo qualifiers.
The former India, Pakistan and the Netherlands coach said he would also scout for new players during the 2019 Malaysia Hockey League slated to begin in January 2019 to infuse fresh blood into the national side, as some players were reaching retirement age.
Malaysia was expected to start 2019 with the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in March, before playing the next stage of the Olympics qualifiers, the World Series Final against Austria, Canada, Italy, Wales, Vanuatu, China and Brazil in April.
Host Malaysia must secure a top two finish to advance to the final phase of the qualifiers, two playoff matches in October and November, to confirm their berth to Tokyo.