Saturday 27 / April / 2024
MUSCAT: Pakistan beat Malaysia 3-1 on penalties while India saw off a spirited Japan 3-2 in the two semifinals of the Asian Champions Trophy at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat. India now take on Pakistan in humdinger of a match on Sunday for the crown.
It was Malaysia who took the lead when Faisal Saari scored inside two minutes, only for Muhammad Irfan Jr to level the scores five minutes later.
Pakistan did well to block back to back Malaysian penalty corners before earning one of their own after 10 minutes of the first quarter.
Both teams had faced each other on Thursday in the group stages, when the South Asian side had prevailed thanks to a 1-0 win. Malaysia's profligacy in front of goal came back to hurt them when their opponents went in front through Bilal Aleem's penalty corner in the 13th minute. Abu Mohammed then doubled his side's lead as the first quarter free to a close.
Bilal picked up where he left off when he doubled his personal tally five minutes into the second half, and his side did well to clear a penalty corner after a goalmouth scramble. Goalkeeper Imran Butt then preserved his side's lead with a spectacular save before the halfway mark.
The game stayed that way until midway through the third corner, when Tajuddin Tengku pulled one back for the South East Asians. Amman Rozemi made it 4-3 immediately after, and Faisal Saari tucked home the equaliser just four minutes before the end.
With Pakistan taking their penalty strokes first, Toseeq Arshad, Abu Mohammed and Ammad Butt all converted to send their nation through to the finals.
Meanwhile, India began on a cautious note against Japan in the second semifinal, without any team taking the initiative to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter, but in the second quarter India found the back of the net through Gujrant Singh in the 19th minute to take a 1-0 lead, then Japan came back to level the score at 1-1 with Hirotake Wakuri scoring through a penalty corner in the 22nd minute to go into the half time break.
It seems that India had their work cut out in the third quarter with Japan mounting the pressure on India to take the lead, but India fought back and was awarded a penalty corner in the 44th minute which was converted by Varun Kumar who made it 2-1.
With 5 minutes left for the final buzzer India found the back of the net once again to extend their lead thorough Dilpreet Singh who scored from a field goal to go 3-1 up, but a spirited Japan with 10 men counter-attacked and managed to make it 3-2 when Hirotaka Zendana scored of a penalty corner closing out the 4th quarter in favour of India.
