India coach Marijne credits team's comeback after error-ridden first two quarters before registering 4-0 win over Pakistan to enter Asia Cup final
Error-ridden in the first two quarters, India slowly worked themselves back into the match to tear apart Pakistan 4-0 and march into their 8th Asia Cup final here in Dhaka. In the space of 21 minutes, India scored four goals. It was a class act and looking at the comeback, it also spoke about India as a fighting unit ready to pounce on their chances. Pakistan would regret the first two quarters. They had their chances from penalty corners and open play. But twice the post came in the way and thrice, the Indian defence dragged the ball away and both Suraj Karkera and Akash Chikte made some brilliant saves. India play Malaysia in the final. As Indian coach Sjoerd Marijne said after the match, "It was a game with two faces. And it was good to see the team comeback after we all had a talk about what was going wrong."
Indian Men's Hockey team celebrates their birth in the final of the Hero Asia Cup 2017 with a convincing 4-0 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super 4s match in Dhaka on Saturday. Pic/PTI
ADVERTISEMENT
Marijne said he would later sit with the team and explain the issues in the first two quarters. But it was clear that they started slow and made a rash of miss-passes which not only gave the momentum to Pakistan but the turn-overs kept a constant pressure going. India seemed jittery in the defence and silly errors led to penalty corners and free hits. Four PC's came to Pakistan in the first two quarters with two hitting the post and going back into play. At the break, India had two penalty corners to Pakistan's four. One of Harmanpreet's flicks hit the upright and went out. But Pakistan dominated the exchanges.
Sjoerd Marijne
India controlled the flow in the 3rd quarter though Pakistan came close once where Suraj Karkera made a brilliant save, pushing a looping ball over the bar. Pakistan's Shakeel Butt played some attractive hockey constantly taking the attack to the Indian defence. But by the middle of the 3rd quarter, Pakistan were tiring and once India scored in the 39th minute (3rd quarter), Pakistan was wilting. Harmanpreet made it 2-0 and then Lalit Upadhyay increased the margin to 3-0 before Gurjant Singh smacked home a stunner to make it 4-0.
Manpreet Singh admitted that the start was slow but he was happy to see the team make a comeback and win the match.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
